Silver Fang
by CrobatFang
Summary: A boy explores the world with his pokemon, hoping to have fun on his journey. Well.. they'll have to fight against an alien dictator, the Pokemon League, Team Rocket, legendaries, and more. All of whom have a special interest in killing our main character. An OC pokemon journey fic, planned to last several hundred thousand words.
1. An Otherworldly Start to My Journey

"What are you doing?" My best friend, Ray, asked, walking up to the bench I was sitting on. The two of us had tied for getting the lowest scores of everyone who passed the trainer's exam this year in Littleroot Town. The exams for trainer school were yesterday, which is when we got our licenses.

"Just looking at the scenery while we wait for our turn," I said.

"Yeah. I want to get my starter quick and beat the record for youngest champion," Ray said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Heh, the one Professor Oak of Kanto set? He was only 16 years old when he became champion. He held the position for 50 years exactly, before losing in battle to Red. Also from Kanto. And that was only three years ago."

Ray laughed. "What a nerd you can be. But yes, I plan to become champion in just _one_ year. Those Kanto elitists will bow down before me and my future team!"

When a child turns ten, they can choose to switch from normal education to pokemon trainer school. The child then takes 3 years of courses, and if they pass, they get a trainer's license and a starter pokemon provided by the school. That's why everyone is 13 years old when they start their journey.

I sighed. "I'll be taking my time. I'd rather have fun exploring the world first than rushing to get strong."

I looked around me as Ray zoned out, likely in another champion fantasy of his. The two of us were sitting in a park painted with standard autumn colors. Littleroot town was sparsely populated, so there were barely any people around us. A quiet and peaceful place Ray and I usually spent our time in.

I didn't truly believe Ray or I could become champion. No one from Hoenn or Alola has ever done so. Alola and Hoenn are the only two regions far out in the eastern hemisphere, while the rest of the regions are in or near the mainland, which is in the western hemisphere. Us easterners don't have nearly the same facilities and treatment as those in the west. It wasn't like I'd say that to him, though.

"Well, ten minutes until our turn for getting starters. Let's get going," I said, slapping Ray on the face to wake him up. I put my journal inside my gray backpack as Ray came to.

"Hnuh? Yeah, hnuh." Ray looked around with a dazed look on his face.

The two of us walked to the Pokemon Trainer School of Littleroot Town. It was right next to the park, two stories high, and colored white. If it didn't have windows, it would just look like a large rectangular prism. There wasn't even a label on it.

We went inside, walking through the standard-looking hallways, until we reached the principal's office.

"Hello!" An attendant led us to an adjacent room full of tables and pokemon balls stacked on shelves. We thanked him as he left.

"Ah, right on time," Mrs. Goleeve said. She was a teacher at the school. "Ray, you're up first. We have three options for you, so you get to decide which one of them you want," she said. Mrs. Goleeve was only in her twenties; she had only been teaching for two years. That's why she was still enthusiastic about her job, which was kind of a rarity.

"I want only the best!" Ray exclaimed, bluntly obnoxious as ever. His bright blue eyes flashed with excitement. He had short blonde hair and a muscular frame; the standard look in our area. I was a bit different, with black hair, brown eyes, and a thin frame.

"Yes yes, ok. Your options are Poochyena, Carvanha, or Trapinch," Mrs. Goleeve said with a smile. She took three pokeballs and info cards and set them in front of Ray on a table. "You are a feisty type, and you prefer pokemon strong in battle with offensive battle styles. These are three such pokemon we have that fit the bill."

I stood in the back of the room as Ray thought about what he wanted, waiting with impatience for when I would get my starter. In truth, besides Ray, I had no friends. I would say it was just because of my different appearance, but I guess it would be my personality as well. For some reason, the masses didn't appreciate it. I did hope I could forge strong bonds with my future pokemon.

"Poochyena is quite common, so even though Mightyena is pretty cool, I don't want it," Ray said, eyebrows furrowed. "Trapinch's evolutions are nice, but it is pretty slow itself. I want to start off with a bang. So Carvanha it is."

Ray picked up the pokeball and its info card, looking like a six year old who was on his first sugar high.

"Well, good luck! Carvanha is quite ferocious and difficult to properly bond with, but with your positive attitude, I think you'll manage!" Mrs. Goleeve said, clapping her hands.

Ray shuffled to the back of the room as I walked forward. He had a strange grin on his face. I would admit, Carvanha is a pretty nice pokemon.

"And as for you, we have two options that could fit your tastes," Mrs. Goleeve said, putting away the leftover pokeballs and information cards.

I saw Mrs. Goleeve pick up two pokeballs and their respective information cards from a corner of the room.

"You are more into the mental aspect of battle, rather than physical. Plus, you are known for you indecision. No offense. So, we have an Eevee and a Ralts for you," Mrs. Goleeve said.

"Both have branching evolution lines. That's interesting…" Ray muttered.

"Can I pick from other pokemon? I don't like either option," I said.

Mrs. Goleeve stepped back in surprise. "What!" She yelled. Then she shook her head. "Sorry, that was too loud. I'm just surprised you actually don't want a pokemon from our options selected. No one has ever done that in my time teaching here," she said.

"Yeah," Ray said, speaking up. "They are professionally selected to be of the pokemon the trainer wants and of the pokemon available in the school."

I attempted to smile to seem less rude. "They're both… I don't know, they just aren't for me."

"Fine," Mrs. Goleeve said, pouting. "Now get out," she said.

I stood still, my smile wider than ever. Ray chuckled nervously behind me. "That's a nice joke…" I said slowly.

"It isn't. You didn't say please, you didn't say thank you, you didn't say anything nice. You also have a very low score on the final exam. You may keep your license, but you'll have to catch your own starter," She said, making a shoo-ing motion.

"I... I never liked you anyway," I muttered, and I stormed out of the room, Ray following behind me after realizing what had happened.

* * *

An hour later, Ray and I were in the outskirts of Littleroot Town. He had said he would help me catch my starter, and after that, we would part ways until the next league challenge conference all the way west in Kalos, which was in ten months.

"Hey, a Poochyena! Do you want it!" Ray exclaimed, pointing at a wild Poochyena bounding across the nearly perpetual tall grass.

"No," I said. I was sitting atop a boulder with Ray, my head in my hands. "All the pokemon here are lame. I want a cool starter too… I should've just taken the Eevee or something," I said.

"C'mon, cheer up! Any pokemon can become great with some effort!" Ray said. He wasn't very good at cheering people up.

I looked up at the cloudless sky. So vast, so certain. Then there was me. Full of regrets. Unable to get what I wanted. Partly because of bad luck, but also partly because I was... weird? Most people seemed to think so.

Then I saw a large circle appear in the sky. It was black in color, and rimmed with purple. I stared at it for a while, but it didn't do anything.

"What's that?" I asked Ray, pointing to the circle.

He looked up at it, and his eyes bulged. "That's an ultra wormhole!" he said, jumping up. "What in the world! Those have only been seen in the Ultra Beast wars a thousand years ago in Alola!"

"Wow, you actually know something. But seriously? Something like that wouldn't appear in a remote town at the edge of Hoenn," I said, scoffing.

Then I saw the hole suddenly move to ten feet above the ground, right next to us. Ray jumped on top of me, squealing like a… like a Ray.

Ten people in white lab coats appeared from the hole, falling to the ground and looking around. They were all old men; they were either graying or balding.

"Planet X7 reached. Two denizens sighted," One said to some sort of black thingy on his arm.

I got out from under the quivering Ray, and waved to them. "Hello. We are from planet… what was it? X7? Yes, planet X7. We are vile monsters who seek intergalactic domination," I said, evidently lying.

All of the old men turned to look at me. "We have been here before," One of them said. "You are evidently lying. Do not fear us; we are investigating the remains of the ultra beasts that attacked your planet long ago. Where can we find them?"

I raised an eyebrow. Then what happened in the past five minutes finally sank in, and I realized I was actually talking to ten aliens. I took deep breaths, and decided that being nice to these unknown entities would be the best possible course.

"We are currently in a region known as Hoenn. If you go south, you'll reach Alola. That's where the Ultra Beasts were," I said.

The tallest of the old men walked forward. "Thank you for the intel. We have a spare pokemon from our world, if you want it. Two of Reek's Naganadel went wild and thus we got an unwanted egg. It hatched a few minutes ago," he said in a flat monotone.

"Ummm ok?" I responded after a few seconds. I didn't know what a Naganadel was, but I was interested in being able to get a pokemon.

"If you were lying, we will cut off your limbs," He added a second later. After he saw my face pale, he tilted his head to the side. "I was evidently lying."

They gave me a Beast Ball; something I had seen only in textbooks. Apparently it was the only ball that could catch Ultra Beasts. It was chrome and blue in color, with ridges all around it.

My eyes widened. "It is Poipole, which evolves into Naganadel. Enjoy," Another alien said. They all instantly disappeared after that… along with Ray.

I looked around, realizing I was alone… and with a Beast Ball, containing my starter, which was from another planet. "What in the name of Arceus just happened?"

* * *

AN: I want to know what the strong points of my writing are, and more importantly, what the weak points are. Reviews from you guys would greatly help with that, so I would be happy if you could review if you have something to say.

Also, this fanfic isn't a SYOC (submit your own character), but if you do get an amazing idea for a character that could tie in to my story nicely, feel free to PM me, and I will let you know if I like it. If I do, I will credit you in the chapter the character is introduced in.

There is a CrobatFang fanfiction group on discord. If you are interested, information is on my profile.

* * *

At the bottom of each chapter, I'll be writing the changes of age and/or pokemon for main characters (and if a new main character is introduced). So for chapter 1, here it is:

Viewpoint Character (age: 13) - gets a Poipole

Ray (age: 13) - gets a Carvanha

For a complete list of main characters, ages, and pokemon (as of the latest uploaded chapter), you may check my profile. My profile also has the elite four and champion (as of the latest uploaded chapter).


	2. My Starter

AN: Pokemon faint in the place of death. When Pokemon are revived from fainting, they lose all prior damage. Therefore, Pokemon do not take permanent damage. There is only one way to kill a pokemon... which will be revealed in a future chapter.

Also, thanks everyone for your support. The criticism helps me grow and get better, and the positive comments motivate me to work harder.

* * *

I sat back down on the boulder, scratching my head. I set my Beast Ball down beside me as I tried to comprehend what just happened. I picked up my starter's ball, and felt it. The ridges on it felt alien to me.. I was used to the smooth, round pokeballs we practiced with in trainer's school.

"GULL!" A wild Wingull cried, flying towards me at breakneck speed. I dodged to the side, and got off the boulder, my Beast Ball still in my right hand. The wingull swiveled in air to look back at me.

I sheepishly remembered I was standing in the middle of the wilderness. My only hope was that my starter could battle. The old men had said the Poipole was just a baby, so I wasn't that sure it could.

I gave it a try, and threw the ball in a near-perfect arc (I've never done anything perfectly) and in a flash of white light, out came what was apparently a Poipole. It was purple, and had a vaguely reptilian appearance. It was able to float in air, and its head was quite large compared to the rest of its body.

I knew that all pokemon could understand human speech from birth (one of the many mysteries of the universe), so I yelled to it, "Fight!"

The Poipole turned to look at me with its large cyan eyes, then it turned to the Wingull that was flapping its wings in place not too far away, seemingly analyzing the new threat.

A humming sound emanated from the Poipole. It then opened its mouth and blasted the Wingull with a bright orange stream of thick liquid. I raised an eyebrow as the Wingull fell to the ground, its wings burnt off. After there was no movement for a few seconds, I assumed the Wingull had fainted. It was a one hit kill.

"Hey Poipole… uh, good job?" I said, trying to think of something to say.

My starter zipped through the air to get closer to me. Apparently it could do that.

"You just used the move Acid. That's nice. Aagh, I wish I could get a Pokedex! We need get a regional recommendation for those..." I complained.

"Poi?"

"You're my starter pokemon. My first. Currently, my only. Seriously, this is so unexpected…" I sat back down on the boulder. I had researched every species of known pokemon in order to gain an edge for when I would start my journey. Even after all of that work, I didn't even know my starter's type. It wasn't my fault it came from another planet.

"Poi? Poipole…"

I looked at my starter. "Can you say, 'Poipole' three times consecutively if you understand me?" I wanted to know that, first of all.

"Poipole Poipole Poipole," it said.

"That's great! Um… I know we aren't exactly from the same planet, but I hope we can be best friends…" I said, my years of anticipating this moment rushing through my head like a Tauros chasing a red sky.

My pokemon nodded its head. I was surprised nodding mean 'yes' in its world, too. _Maybe our worlds are more connected than I presumed,_ I thought. Then I started walking back to Littleroot Town to get my pokemon checked. I wanted to know more about it. Excitement coursed through my veins, with thoughts of the aliens deliberately pushed to the back of my mind. "Follow me, please. You might get to meet some interesting people there," I told my pokemon. It kept up with me by floating as I ran back.

* * *

"So? How is it?" I asked. I was at the pokemon center of Littleroot Town, talking to the nurse who had agreed to check over my Poipole (I had returned it to its Beast Ball).

"Your Poipole is a male poison type. It knows Acid, Growl, Helping Hand, and Peck. It is indeed a newborn, but it can fight well," the nurse said, handing me back my ball. I gratefully accepted the Beast Ball, and showed her my trainer's license to avoid having to pay for the services.

I turned to walk away but the nurse put her hand on my shoulder. "Wait," She said, a strange glint in her eye.

I turned back around and crossed my arms, anticipating what she was going to say. "Where did you get that?" She asked. "That's an Ultra Beast. I didn't even know it existed until I looked through our records."

I laughed nervously. "I was walking around the outskirts of town when I saw the ball just lying on the ground."

She smiled. "You are quite obviously lying. No one who can afford such a pokeball would even consider coming to this area. There isn't anything noteworthy here! Tell me, honestly. You saw an ultra wormhole, didn't you?" She said, her eyes narrowed.

I looked at my feet, deciding there wasn't any harm in telling her the truth. "Yes. These people came out of it and gave this pokemon to me. I have a license, but no pokemon, so I decided to make it my starter…"

The nurse's eyes widened. "Oh no… I'm afraid you'll have to give me that ball back, if that is so. I have received orders to collect anything related to Ultra Megalopolis and send it to Ever Grande City," She said.

I stared at her blankly. "Ultra Megawho? And I'm not giving away my starter. Although it was a surprise, I'm quite happy with my starter being a Poipole, and I don't want that to cha-" I said.

"That's enough!" The nurse interrupted, her demeanor suddenly stiffening.

"Well, so, well, uh," I stammered. There was no one else in the pokemon center, so there wasn't anyone I could look to for aide. "You can't steal my pokemon like this…" I said, backing away. The nurse jumped on the counter, and stood atop it, her ravenous blue eyes never leaving the Beast Ball in my hands. "I could retire with the money I'll get from sending that ball to Hoenn's government! And with a clean conscience! Look, this is completely legal, and you'll become a criminal if you resist. So what will it be, huh?" The nurse said.

I was frozen for a few seconds, after which I regained my composure. "I'll be a criminal then! You can't take my Poipole from me!" I yelled, running out of the pokemon center's automatic doors. I continued running through the roads, the world around me blurring. I reached the wilderness surrounding our town, and didn't stop until I couldn't run anymore. I felt like I had just swallowed a brick; I fell to the ground, and decided to release Poipole. It appeared in a flash of light, and turned towards me. Its face betrayed no emotion.

"I'm just a little tired, don't worry," I said, assuming (more like hoping) my pokemon was concerned for me. After all, I was lying on the ground in tall grass, groaning and clutching my stomach.

The Poipole tilted its head slightly to the left. "Poi?"

"I'm a criminal now, or something. Everything's happening so fast, it feels like I'm having a pretty stupid dream. But yeah, I think my license will get revoked or something. I don't even know…" I continued rambling about my predicament, and Poipole just floating there, staring at me. It felt nice to have a patient listener. Ray wasn't exactly that good of a listener.

After a while, I got up, and looked around. No one had chased me, which was good.

"Do you want to train or something?" I asked my starter. In my dreams of becoming a trainer, I had imagined making sure my starter was great at battling with me before going to Oldale Town, the nearest town. It had a route that connected to Petalburg City, which was where the nearest gym was.

But I was a criminal, and if my license got revoked, I couldn't challenge a gym. I chose to think of my future later, and simply get started on training.

"Poipole, I'm going to walk around. If a wild pokemon comes near me, you may attack it," I said. I had decided to save strategy for after my starter got used to defeating pokemon and using its moves.

"Poipole!" My starter said with a cheer. I started walking in a direction away from both Littleroot Town and Oldale Town. I didn't want to run into any other trainers.

And that's exactly what happened. Not 30 seconds after I started walking, I saw an young boy, around eight years old, run up to me.

"Hey! Wanna battle? I'm not an official trainer yet, but my father has taught me well!" The boy said. He was wearing a tan colored hat and held a bug catching net.

"You already have pokemon!" I exclaimed. Possession of pokemon below the age of 13 was illegal under normal circumstances.

"Hey, I have a license for taking care of bug type pokemon. My father got it for me. I'm not allowed to battle with them, so just don't tell anyone about our fight, all right?" He said.

I sighed. So far, everything I had done since getting my license was illegal. "One on one?" I asked.

"Fine by me. I'll assume you're using that exotic pokemon near you. It must be from the mainland or something. That's fine. Go, Kakuna!" The boy yelled, throwing a pokeball in the air. In a flash of light, out came a Kakuna.

I tried my best to stifle a laugh. "Those things can't fight! Beedrill are impressive, but Kakuna! Seriously!"

The boy's face reddened. "Oh yeah? Then let's place a bet on our battle. The loser gives 5 empty pokeballs of any kind to the winner. Deal?"

I smirked. "Done deal. Now let's get ready…" The two of us distanced ourselves, and our pokemon floating in front of us. I told my Poipole how a trainer battle works, and he seemed to understand. I actually didn't have any spare pokeballs on me, so I was eager to get some from the kid.

"START!" The boy screamed. He immediately told his Kakuna to stay in place and Harden. I smirked yet again and told Poipole to use Acid. Acid was a special move, so an increased physical defence wouldn't matter.

Poipole floated closer to the Kakuna, and spat out a large glob of acid. The boy smiled, and said, "Execute plan Long 34!"

The opponent Kakuna dodged with speed I had thought impossible for a Kakuna. It then used String Shot at my Poipole, who had just stopped using Acid on the spot where its opponent had just been. My pokemon fell to the ground a second later, wrapped in the white silk of Kakuka's making.

"Great job! Now finish it up!" The boy shouted. I looked at him with anger, finding myself hating that stupid grin on his face. "Poipole, use Acid to free yourself, dodge, then Growl!" I yelled.

However, my starter wasn't fast enough. The Kakuna used Tackle on my pokemon several times, each time knocking the senses out of my Poipole. The Kakuna was using speed to win… I never thought I'd see something like that.

The battle was over, lasting less than a minute total. I lost. My Poipole was fainted, the Kakuna left without a scratch. We returned our pokemon, and the boy ran over to me.

"That was a nice battle, right! May I have my 5 pokeballs now?" The boy said, a faint smile touching his lips.

I looked at him in his annoying face. I didn't even have what he wanted. I examined the long grass around us, swaying in the gentle breeze.

I then punched the boy in the face, and took the two pokeballs hanging on his belt. While the boy was recovering from my attack, I stuffed the two balls in my gray backpack. He was now disarmed. I grinned. I was a criminal, so I figured another illegal act wouldn't change anything.

The boy got up, groaning, but I punched him again, and he fell to the ground. I took the boy's backpack, and stole whatever I thought was useful. Potions, pokeballs, water, food, honey, and even a revive, among other things. I filled up my backpack. Then looked at the boy, lying on the ground in pain. I wondered why I had just done that. I started hating myself. Just because I couldn't take the shame of losing to a little boy…

I took out some bandages and tried my best to fix up the boy's face. I spent ten minutes on it before getting up and running off. I returned his two pokemon to him, but I still kept the items. I resolved to never do that again. I'll be a nice guy. An explorer. Hopefully Ray will appear in the League contest in ten months, having trained the whole time. I can meet him there. I just won't be participating.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day focusing on training my Poipole after reviving it with the boy's revive item. I didn't really know what my starter was thinking the whole time; he complied with everything I said happily. I had heard of new technology that enabled humans to understand pokemon speech, but that was too expensive anyway. Throughout the training, I gave my pokemon some of the healing items I had received.

When it was night time, I walked into Oldale Town, wanting to find a place to sleep in. I had told my parents I wouldn't return to them for another year, which was what I intended, but I had forgotten about asking them for money. I could rent a room in the pokemon center for free, but I would have to be a legal trainer for that.

"Poi!" My starter shivered. "How about I return you for now?" I asked him. My Poipole nodded, and I returned it into its pokeball. I intended on finding out whether or not I was a criminal. If I was a criminal... well, I couldn't run forever.

I walked towards the bright orange lights that was the pokemon center, the only illumination in the dark. Oldale was pretty small, more so than Littleroot Town. I had never been there before. It seemed those rumors I heard were true.

I entered, and saw the nurse putting away a pack of bandages in a shelf. There was no one else there.

I walked up to the counter and got her attention.

"Hello! It's pretty late. Did you want a room?" The nurse said, a fake smile plastered on her face.

I nodded and showed her my trainer license, a metal rectangle that was mostly navy blue in color. I sweated as she scanned the barcode, and a 'beep' came from the machine. She handed back the license after registering it to a one-person room with a twin sized bed for one night. I silently thanked whatever divine power had ensured I was able to get a place to sleep.

"Thanks." I walked up the stairs to the second floor and found my room. I used my license to open the door, and I found three people playing cards atop the twin sized bed.

"Sorry!" I yelped, exiting and closing the door. I checked the room number, wondering why I had gotten it wrong.

It wasn't wrong.

I walked in, now angry. "Who are you people! How are you in my room!" I yelled. The three people got up. They were all kids around my age.

One of them smiled and said, "hello, Siegal. Come play cards with us. We have a lot to tell you."

I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't even my name! Why in the name of Arceus couldn't anything happen normally? I walked into my room, yawning.

* * *

Chapter 2 MC/age/pokemon changes:

new MC: Micah (age: 8) - has a Kakuna and a Meditite.

Note: In case someone didn't know, MC means 'main character'.


	3. New Friends

AN: Cards and card games in this pokemon universe are the same as those we have on Earth. For example, Blackjack is played in this chapter, which is a real world card game.

* * *

I walked into my room, inspecting the twin sized bed, the fat television, the wooden table with two chairs, the couch, and the bathroom. I heard someone taking a shower in there.

I made myself comfortable and sat down on one of the chairs, and inspected the three intruders. One had short red hair, one had long blue hair, and one had short green hair. They were all staring at me intently, as if they were expecting me to say something.

"So. Who are you people?" I tried, doing my best to sound calm. Inside, I was fighting a turmoil of anger - why were these people invading my room! I wanted to sleep so badly. At least I had filled my stomach with food I had taken from the boy.

"You aren't Siegal?" The red haired boy asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. Now can you answer my question?"

They all looked at each other and nodded. Then they simply walked out of my room, shutting the door behind them.

I shrugged, unsure of what that was all about. I guessed they might've just walked into the wrong room. Then I noticed all of the stuff in my room; there was luggage, strewn clothing, half empty water bottles, and the cards they were playing with, still atop my bed.

In confusion and frustration, I threw all of the cards on the ground, and tucked myself under the soft, white sheets, setting my backpack next to me. I knew the door would be locked; pokemon center doors automatically lock when closed. I closed my eyes, getting myself ready to enter a blissful sleep...

Then the bathroom door opened.

My eyes shot open. I had forgotten about that person in the bathroom! I quickly hid under the bed, wanting to see, but not be seen. That was a basic strategy we learned in trainer's school; it was useful for dealing with an unknown entity.

Out came the same boy I had beaten up earlier. At least he had all of his clothes already on. I looked at his face, and winced at the black eye and numerous red bruises.

The boy looked around, his mouth open. "Where did everyone go?" He wondered aloud. He noticed the cards on the ground, and his eyes widened.

I quickly looked at the boy's belt. He had no pokeballs on him. That would mean I could gently subdue him, and go down to the nurse to straight up ask her why seemingly everyone in Hoenn was residing in my private room. I didn't like having to hurt him again, but I needed to in order to get to the bottom of the situation.

When the time was right, with the boy's back turned, I tensed my muscles to leap out from under the bed and grab his ankles. However, the three kids from before walked back into the room, closed the door, and noticed the cards on the ground.

"Micah! How dare you ruin our game!" The green haired girl yelled, glaring daggers at the confused boy I was a second away from subduing.

"What do you mean! Tt wasn't me!" Micah protested, taking a step back.

"Oh yes it was… oh wait, it's probably that boy," The blue haired girl said.

I froze in place under the bed as a murderous glint settled into six eyes. Micah still seemed confused. "What boy?"

"The one who just came in. He's hiding under the bed," the red haired boy said. "His foot is sticking out. I'm surprised you didn't see it."

I sighed and got out from under the bed. "Hello everyone."

Micah looked at me, and his eyes bulged so much, I literally thought for a second they would fall out.

"You You You!" He yelled. "You little ?&%$! Go &*%$ yourself in a garbage can, you piece of &^*$!"

I laughed nervously. "Little kids shouldn't be saying stuff like that…"

The blue haired girl scoffed. "I would assume by Micah's reaction that you are the one who beat him up," She said to me, her voice clear and strong, her gaze absolute. "I have something to say to you."

I gulped nervously. "It was an accident, my hand sli-"

"Shut up!" The blue haired girl shouted. "Listen. I just wanted to congratulate you. Little Micah here actually has been practicing martial arts with his Meditite his whole life."

Micah blushed. "He caught me by surprise, all right! If it was a fair duel, I could easily beat him up!"

I stared at them, confused. The green and red haired kids had walked off to sit in the two chairs, where they took out a deck and started playing cards over the table. My table.

"Focus!" The blue haired girl said.

I looked at her. "What?"

"Do you want to play cards?" She asked, her voice changing to an almost sweet tone.

I raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Look, I'm really confused. How did you guys even get into this room?"

The blue haired girl sighed. "Basically, that green haired girl with the glasses over there," she pointed to the green haired girl. "Her name is Kyra. She hacked into the pokemon center system and covertly registered her trainer's license to allow access into this room. It was randomly picked," she said.

"Eh? That's possible?" I asked, unsure of whether or not to believe that a teenager could hack into the pokemon center security system.

"Yes. Me and that red haired kid over there, his name's Tyson, we're in a travelling team with Kyra. We all decided to stay in this room for the day and play cards in it," The blue haired girl said.

"And why couldn't you just legally get this room? Its free for trainers…"

"We had a fourth member, his name is Siegal. We hadn't met him yet; we contacted each other online. We were supposed to meet here. We discarded the door's automatic lock, by the way."

I scratched my head. "So I just happened to be unfortunately in a room where a bunch of kids decided to meet up illegally?"

"Yep. Oh, and Micah here is a kid we found on the ground a few hours ago. We took him in because we're nice," The blue haired girl said.

"You wanted to just pretend we didn't see him. I'm the one who took him in," Kyra said, her eyes never leaving her cards. He didn't need to yell though, as he was only a few meters away.

Micah walked out of the room, muttering a thanks, and said he was healthy enough to return to his house.

"Wow. This is… unexpected…" I said after a few seconds.

"I'm Arice, by the way," The blue haired girl said, outstretching her hand. I shook it awkwardly.

"So is this Siegal yet to come?" I asked, striking conversation. I didn't feel tired anymore; I was actually interested in finding a way to leverage these three people to my advantage. Maybe I could mooch off of their resources for a while? That would've been nice, considering I had barely any food or money on me. Then I realized what I was thinking. I wish I didn't always think of how to cheat people. That's why I've had no friends!

"Yes," Arice said. "In the meantime, Tyson and Kyra, can the two of us borrow that table?"

"Ugh, fine," Tyson grumbled. He and Kyra got up and snuggled under the bedsheets. My bedsheets.

"Oh god, This room is so trashed…" I muttered, sitting down on a chair. Arice sat on the other, and pulled out a new deck of cards from her jeans' pocket.

"Why am I playing cards again?" I asked.

"To pass time," Arice said, rolling her eyes, as if it was the most obvious reason in the world. "We're going to play Blackjack."

I agreed, as I'd played the game before, then an idea came to my mind. "Let's bet five pokeballs. Loser gives it to the winner."

Arice raised an eyebrow, and she smiled. "Wow, neither Tyson nor Kyra think betting on cards is enjoyable. I'm starting to like you. But aren't those stakes a little too mild?" She said, licking her lips. I leaned backwards in my chair. "If I win, you give me everything in that gray backpack of yours. If you win, you get to join our group, where you will get trainer coaching, resources, and much more."

I realized that winning would let me gain the chance to make new friends; joining a training group would mean I would have human friends I could have conversations with! "Agreed. Best of one game?"

Arice nodded. "Kyra, you deal and shuffle," Arice said. Kyra got out of the bed and did as she was told, her eyes closed the whole time. _Is this girl even human?_ I wondered.

"You may go first," Arice said. I looked at my two cards. A '6' and a '7'. Since aces were either one or eleven in value, I had a 8/13 chance of going bust by getting a total of higher than 21 if I drew another card.

"Hit me," I said. A score of 13 almost never wins unless the opponent goes bust, and judging by the confident smile Arice had, she wasn't that bad. Of course, Blackjack was 90% luck though.

Kyra handed me a card from the deck. It was a '4'. I gritted my teeth. "Bad luck?" Arice inquired softly.

"Stay," I said. I had a score of 17. Not great, but hopefully good enough.

"Hit me," Arice said. Kyra handed her a card from the deck. I saw that there was a tiny discoloration on a corner of the back of the card. I narrowed my eyes.

"Aww, I'm bust," Arice said. She showed two '10's and a '5'. "I had a '10' and a '5', and after that, I got a '10'. Oh well," she complained.

I took her three cards and saw that it was the '5' that had the discoloration. I pointed it out to Arice while Kyra went back to bed. Tyson was already snoring.

"I see, I was wondering if you would notice," Arice said.

"So, why? You could have cheated to win!"

"I actually wanted you to join our team. Only if you noticed the discoloration, though. I would have just thrown you out of the room if not. The three of us could use someone with good observational skills."

My heart warmed at the compliment. "Thanks… I guess…" I muttered, then I told her my name.

"I see. Well, welcome to our group! We can do introductions later, after we sleep for tonight," Arice said cheerfully.

"Uh, there's actually a complication here…" I told Arice everything, from not getting a starter at my trainer school, to becoming a criminal, to coming into this pokemon center. I released my Poipole to show it to Arice, although it simply floated without an expression, looking at me the whole time.

"What bad luck… well, you are a bit naive," Arice said. "That nurse was probably lying. She just wanted you to give her the beast ball so she could sell it."

I blushed. "Oh. and she gave me the beast ball first so I would have given it to her willingly, making it seem like she had the right to sell it…"

Arice nodded. "We can now sleep." She got up and starting walking towards the door.

"Where? The bed is taken already… My bed…" I asked.

"Kyra hacked the adjacent room. The two of us can sleep there," Arice said, rolling her eyes.

"B-But, you're a girl! We can't sl-sl-sl," I stuttered.

Arice laughed. "It's fine. Kyra sleeps with Tyson all the time. Nothing has happened. I've always slept alone, though. Looks like that will change!"

I sighed, returning Poipole to its Beast Ball and gathering my things. I entered the adjacent room, which was a nearly exact replica. And the two of us got in bed, Arice in the middle and myself huddle on the edge.

I thought about the day, and how hectic it had been. I thought about Ray, and how I couldn't know if he was even alive or not. I thought about my starter, whose personality wasn't very outwardly. I thought about Micah, and how I felt a knot in my stomach when I think of how I beat him up and took his stuff. I thought about the three kids with dyed hair colors, and how I had somehow joined their group. And I thought about Arice, who was sleeping in the same bed as me… something that went against every principle I had learnt and believed in as a child.

When Arice fell asleep (which didn't take that long), I got out of the bed and slept on the small couch. I went to sleep, having nightmares of losing in a pokemon battle to an eight year old. Then I remembered that was in reality. Why in the name of Arceus couldn't I have a normal life?

* * *

Chapter 3 MC/age/pokemon changes:

new MCs: Tyson, Kyra, and Arice. All age 13. Their pokemon are unknown.


	4. My Second Battle

AN: I wanted to clarify that everyone has the exact same birthday; January 1st. If you want to know why, it is in the seventh chapter (titled 'Birthdays') in my other fanfic called 'The World of Silver Fang; A Collection of Supplementary Information'.

Also, water pokemon can swim through the air when above land, but the lowest point of their body can't be more than half a meter above the ground. I made this dynamic up as I don't want to limit water pokemon to just aquatic terrains, but I didn't want them to have the versatility of a flying type in air. Also, just imagine how weird it would be seeing a group of Jellicent swimming amongst the clouds.

Finally, I want to thank the few people reviewing. This is the first time I've shown someone my writing (I've written other stuff which I haven't showed anyone yet) so seeing reviews really helps it sink in that there are actually people reading what I'm writing. There _are_ view and visitor graphs and stuff I can look at, but those are just statistics.

* * *

Ray looked around, blinking. He was in a completely different place from where he was just a second ago; the Littleroot Town outskirts. One moment, he was surrounded by long grasses; the next, he was surrounded by garbage in a dark alley. The alley was dark and surrounded on three sides by buildings dozens of floors high. It was something Ray had never seen, as he had lived his whole life in a rural setting.

"What in the world..." Ray muttered, starting to walk out of the alley.

Then he saw the biker gang ride their motorcycles into the alley from outside.

There were three dudes in their prime, all ripped, and getting off of their motorcycles. They all noticed Ray at the same time, and they all scowled at the same time.

Ray took a step backwards, fear taking over his confusion.

"Hey wimp, whatcha doin' in this here alley? Eh?" One of the gang members said. He had a thick mustache and a scar running through his right cheek.

"I... teleported here? Against my will? I don't know?" Ray said, taking another step backwards. He started feeling nauseous. _This isn't good._ _If I continue to feel this much fear, I'll lose consciousness... Aagh, I wish I wasn't such a scaredy-cat_ , Ray griped, just a second before falling unconscious.

The biker gang looked at Ray's body. Then they looked at each other.

"We better dispose of his body. Wait, is he dead or no?" One gang member said.

Another one shrugged. "Who cares. Just toss him in a garbage bin and close the lid," Another said. The three members agreed on that plan, but before they could pick up Ray's fallen body, a man in a white cloak walked into the alley.

"Stop right there! I sensed a powerful psychic energy shift in this location. That boy must be related to it," The cloaked figure said. He stood straight and tall, his features well defined and befitting of a royal.

The gang members noticed the newcomer, and immediately, they bowed down. "We-we-we're sorry sir! Please take him! We promise, we found him just lying on the ground!" One bike member said, standing up and presenting Ray's fallen body before the cloaked figure.

"Thanks. I will be taking this boy. If I'm correct, he is a Shifter. Someone like that will be very useful... very useful indeed..." The cloaked figure said, a wide grin forming on his face. Then he seemed to realize it, and cleared his throat, the grin fading away. "Well, I will take my leave," and the cloaked figure vanished into thin air.

* * *

I woke up on the ground of the hotel room, right next to couch where I had fallen asleep. Apparently I had fallen off.

I got up and looked around, rubbing my eyes. The room was the same as when I had fallen asleep, except now, golden sunlight poured in through the windows. I looked outside and realized it was only an hour or two until noon. I must have been really tired.

I didn't see Arice in the room at all, but her things were still in the room. I then gasped. I ran to my backpack, and checked the smallest pocket. I felt around and sighed in relief. My Beast Ball was still there. I had been afraid it might be stolen.

"Good morning," Tyson said. I peeked at the doorway, and there he was, his straight hair pointing in every direction. I noticed that his eyes were the same bright red color as his hair. "You should get ready in the bathroom before coming to our other room. The door is unlocked."

He left, and I changed, brushed, washed my face, and did some other things in the bathroom. Then I grabbed my Beast Ball before rushing into the team's other room. I smiled, remembering I was a part of a team. But I couldn't be truly happy, with thoughts of Ray refusing to let go of my conscience.

I went into the other room and noticed that it was even messier than before. There were cards strewn every; not just the one deck I had intentionally spilled the night before, but around a dozen decks worth of cards. Kyra also wasn't in the room.

"Arice and Kyra went to do a pokemon battle out in the courtyard. The two of them are aspiring to top the Pokemon League," Tyson said. He was sitting on the bed.

"You aren't?" I asked.

"That's right. Due to certain... complications... with my past, I intend to capture a Lunala or Solgaleo and ride it to... somewhere," Tyson said slowly. I could tell he was trying his best to be as vague as possible.

"Lunala? Solgaleo? The legendaries? Well, there aren't one of each of those species; no one has ever captured any of that kind of legendary pokemon. But no one has captured a Lunala before either..."

"Well, a Solgaleo has been captured once before. By Sun, all those years ago."

"And he rode off into space with it, never to return. You dream of being like that?"

Tyson frowned. "I would rather not talk more about my dream. Sorry."

I sighed. "Fine, fine. So. What should we do now?"

Tyson smirked. "The two of have a battle to do. Loser has to kiss the winner's feet or shoes."

I laughed. "Well, you seem pretty confident, setting up those kinds of stakes."

"The three of us started our journey yesterday. Arice told us everything about you, so I know you started yesterday as well. That means we should be on equal footing, yes?" Tyson said, crossing his arms.

I shrugged, leaning on a wall. "Sure. You have only one pokemon too?"

"That's right. I'm still unsure of whether to believe your starter was given to you by random aliens, though."

"It's true; you'll see. Let's go to the battlefield, shall we? This will be my second pokemon battle, and I intend to win it." I said. I wasn't surprised I would be fighting of my teammates.

Tyson frowned. "I do feel cheap for deciding to battle a trainer who can't keep up with an eight-year-old."

I ignored his comment as I followed him down the stairs, my thoughts wandering. I hadn't really bonded with my starter... he didn't seem very proactive at all. He did love training and battling though, which was something to be happy about. I noticed that there were a few trainers inside on the main floor. I recognized some of the faces, since many people from Oldale Town visited Littleroot Town; the two towns weren't that far apart.

Thankfully, the nurse had noticed me but hadn't made any comment. If I was a criminal, she would've known by then, and stopped me. It was nice to know I wasn't actually a criminal. I was also disgusted at the Littleroot Town nurse. I had known her for many years, and yet she had still tried to cheat me out of my starter.

Tyson and I walked outside and circled around the pokemon center, reaching the courtyard at the back. There wasn't any professional pokemon battle area, as Oldale Town wasn't rich enough to afford something like that, but there was ample flat ground space. There wasn't anyone else in the courtyard except Kyra and Arice, who were sitting in the shadow of the pokemon center to the side, playing cards.

"Who won?" Tyson asked, approaching them. I followed behind, curious as well.

"I did!" Arice said proudly. Kyra didn't look up from her cards. Arice looked at me, and did a thumbs-up. "Tyson has been wanting to battle you ever since he woke up. He doesn't believe you are worthy. Try to beat him!" She said cheerfully. Thinking back, I've never seen her not overly cheerful.

"Let's get started then," Tyson said, standing off to the side. I stood a distance off, and we released our pokemon at the same time. He threw a standard pokeball to reveal his starter; a Gastly. It was a ghost/poison type pokemon.

I told my pokemon we were having a battle before signaling to Tyson that I was ready.

"All right! Get ready to be defeated!"

"Poipole! evade attacks while using Move #1!" I yelled. If the opportunity comes, use Move #2! No need for Move #4!" The day before, I had numbered Poipole's moves so that the opponent wouldn't know what moves Poipole would use. Move #1 was Growl, #2 was Peck, #3 was Helping Hand, and #4 was Acid. Moves were strange, special science-defiers which pokemon could only know four of at a time. One of the many mysteries of pokemon.

"Gastonio! Stand by!" Tyson yelled. I raised an eyebrow as my Poipole started spamming use of Growl. I was lowering the opponents Attack... if Tyson was okay with it, his Gastly must've been relying on Special attack moves.

"Poipole! Switch plans!" I yelled after a few seconds; I wanted to make sure that if the Gastly actually had Physical attack moves, it couldn't use them. "Switch to the offensive, still don't use Move #4!"

My Poipole cut through the air towards its opponent, using Peck. The Gastly swiftly dodged to its left, smirking. My Poipole continued to chase after the Gastly, but it was always a little faster. "Switch to Move #4 for slowing it down! Use Move #2 as the main damage dealer!" I yelled.

Tyson still hadn't given any attack orders. I knew he had something up his sleeve. He simply watched as his Gastly barely managed to dodge the Acid and Peck attacks being thrown at it in quick succession. Finally, an Acid landed, and the Gastly fell to the ground for just a second. My Poipole swiftly floated in, and used Peck three times on the fallen Gastly before it managed to float off again.

"Good work! I can see it slowing down!" I yelled. I saw my Poipole coming closer, but I knew something was off; Tyson wouldn't just watch his Gastly get pummeled. "Poipole! Stay back and wait for it to attack!" I yelled. My Poipole looked at me. It still didn't have any emotion on its face, but I could tell it was confused. "They must have a secret attack or something," I told it. My starter nodded and looked back at its opponent, who was a couple meters away.

Tyson ran his fingers through his hair. He muttered something which I couldn't hear, but judging by his disappointed look, I could tell I guessed right.

"Gastonio! Continue to stand by!" Tyson yelled.

And that's what happened for the next few seconds. Neither pokemon moved; they were just staring at each other. I mentally sighed, knowing Tyson wanted me to grow impatient and send Poipole on the offensive. I was feeling impatient, but I didn't tell my pokemon to do anything. Professional battles were so much more full of action, with trainers having six pokemon each, and switching them out any time they wanted to keep their opponent on the edge. Each pokemon also had amazing moves of all kinds. Of course, a battle between two fresh trainers wouldn't be like that; it was actually interesting in its own way.

"Poipole, Move #5!" I yelled, smirking. Move #5; make fun of the opponent pokemon. It was like the move Taunt, although since it wasn't an actual move, it wasn't _as_ effective. Nevertheless, it worked; I had tried it yesterday on some wild pokemon. My Poipole turned around and started shaking its rear back and forth. Then it stuck its tongue out.

The opponent Gastly didn't move from its spot, yet I saw its forehead wrinkle. I wasn't sure how that worked, with Gastly being 95% gas and all, but then again, no one knew how nearly anything worked when it came to pokemon.

Tyson gritted his teeth. "Gastonio! We can use that combo later! Instead, use Will-O-Wisp!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. I knew Will-O-Wisp didn't deal damage, but it inflicted the Burn status condition. Something like for a drawn out battle like ours wouldn't be good. The actual problem, however, was the fact that his Gastly knew such a move. I didn't think a Gastly could learn that without a TM.

As the Gastly started spitting out its long ranged purple flames, I watched my pokemon dodge. "Focus on evasion! Maintain distance!" I yelled. I didn't want Poipole to move in just yet, as Tyson had said they would use their 'combo' later on; it wasn't called off. Still, I couldn't keep Poipole on the defensive forever.

"Poipole! Continue to focus on dodging, but throw in some Move #4s whenever you can!" I yelled. My pokemon nodded, and did so. No Will-O-Wisps had hit my pokemon yet, and they didn't seem to be close to doing so. I smiled, proud of my starter.

"Gastonio! Use it now!" Tyson yelled as my Poipole was in the middle of dodging a Will-O-Wisp. My eyes widened, and before I could react, the Gastly used Hypnosis. However, my Poipole actually managed to dodge the blue rings of light that emanated from the Gastly.

"Now Peck!" I yelled, not caring about the move's code name, and my Poipole managed to close the gap between itself and the surprised Gastly and landed a clean hit. After taking the hit, the Gastly backed off before taking another. That last Peck severely damaged it however.

"Poipole! You're the best! Now just Peck it 'till it faints!" I yelled. I saw Tyson, who was standing still, his face nearly as expressionless as my Poipole's. I looked back at the battle and saw my Poipole land the decisive Peck, finishing off the Gastly.

I won my first pokemon battle.

Tyson paled, and wordlessly returned his Gastly. He said something to the pokeball before putting it in his pant pocket.

He walked up to me. I was standing stiff, knowing what he needed to do as the loser. To be honest, I didn't actually care that much about the reward; I cared more about the fact that I won.

Tyson kissed my sneakers, and walked off, apparently around the pokemon center. _Maybe he's going back to the room?_ I thought. I decided to let him leave, as I felt like I understood what it was like to lose. And he lost to someone his age; I had to face defeat against an eight year old. I went to my Poipole, congratulated it, and decided to return it.

"Good job," Kyra said. I looked at the other two members of our group, still playing cards. I walked over to them, hoping to make conversation.

"Thanks," I said, unsure of what else to say. Although I wished I was good at small talk, I really wasn't.

"I was thinking you would lose, as Tyson had used 2 TMs on his pokemon; Hypnosis and Will-O-Wisp. Looks like you are your pokemon are actually pretty good in the end!" Arice said, smiling.

I sat down next to Arice and Kyra, who weren't playing cards anymore. "Yeah. Come to think of it, I don't even know my starter's ability..."

Kyra adjusted her glasses. "Beast Boost. Your pokemon's greatest stat is severely boosted when it knocks a pokemon out. It resets after the pokemon is returned to a pokeball or after around half-an-hour, whichever happens first. All Ultra Beasts have that ability."

I looked at her in amazement. "Wow, you really are smart. And I used to think I was a nerd."

Arice laughed. "Kyra values knowledge a lot. She plans to specialize in psychic type pokemon."

I looked at Kyra. "That's cool. A specialized trainer, huh?"

Kyra cracked her knuckles. "If you think we're inferior, then-"

"No no!" I shook my head vigorously. "I was just saying it. Specialized trainers have weaknesses, but they have strengths, too."

Kyra nodded. "It's good that you understand." Kyra then looked at Arice. "I accept him into our group. He's competent, sufficiently understanding, and analytically proficient."

"Yes yes!" Kyra nodded.

"Thanks for those compliments," I said. "So, how exactly did this group start anyway?"

"The three of us actually grew up here in Oldale Town. Tyson wanted another boy in the group, so we contacted this online friend of ours named Siegal. Or at least, that's what his username was. He grew up in Littleroot Town, and he said he would come see us last night to join us. He never actually came though," Arice said.

"That's strange," I said. "I should know him then. There were only seven kids graduating as pokemon trainers this year from my hometown, including me."

"He always talked about this one friend of his, who most people avoided. He said that friend was actually a cool person," Kyra said.

I narrowed my eyes. "Did he aspire to become the champion at the age of 14?" I asked. There was only one person in Littleroot Town who was like that.

"Yes! You know him?" Arice asked.

I grinned. "That friend of his? That would be me. Siegal is actually my best friend named Ray, the one who went missing."

Arice and Kyra gasped. "Seriously?!" Arice exclaimed.

"He never told me about you guys. I feel a little betrayed..." I said.

Arice smiled. "That's fine. You're a part of our group now. If he's out there, training hard, we'll find out about him eventually."

I nodded, and my stomach growled. I blushed and got up. "Thanks for the discussion. I'm going to go eat at the center."

Kyra started shuffling the card deck they had set aside. I sighed, unable to understand why they liked cards so much, and I walked around the pokemon center to reach the entrance. That had actually been pretty fun. I thought exploring the world with just my pokemon would be ideal, but being with other humans was pretty nice, too. These kids were all amazing. I just hoped Ray was safe...

* * *

AN: Let me know if there was anything I could improve on with my writing of that battle. I intended for it to be the first actually good battle (the one with Micah was intended to be one-sided). I want to make sure I can write pokemon battles well, because there will be a lot of important ones later on in this story (especially in the Pokemon League Challenge Tournaments).

* * *

Chapter 4 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Tyson - starter revealed to be Gastly (nicknamed Gastonio)


	5. Planning our First Expedition

AN: I will be introducing the pokemon translator soon (so the humans can understand pokemon) which will allow for more characterization on the pokemon. If you were wondering why the Poipole is so boring, then just know that once it evolves later on, that will change. Don't worry, the main character will be getting his second pokemon soon, and that pokemon _might_ have an eccentric personality :). Please enjoy and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions/suggestions!

* * *

After eating lunch in the pokemon center cafeteria (and having to give up the last of my meager allowance money), I decided that I wanted a mobile phone. After all, the others in the group had one, and they used it for communication regularly. I didn't have the money though, so my great plan was to challenge someone to a pokemon battle with a phone as the stakes. Then I remembered I didn't have anything of equal value I wanted to give up, and that I had vowed to never cheat in a pokemon battle (not having what the stakes required is considered cheating, in my opinion).

So, I decided to go into the rooms to ask someone in the group how I could get a phone. I walked up the stairs of the pokemon center, afraid of having to talk to Tyson. I imagined it would be pretty awkward.

When I reached the second floor, I noticed a pretty boy walking down the hallway, his stride swift wand purposeful. He was wearing a posh navy blue suit and his hair was blonde and perfectly combed, sparking with such intensity that it nearly seemed like it was giving off its own light.

Then I looked down to his belt, and noticed two pokeballs clipped to it. A trainer? He seemed around my age, but since he has two pokemon, he must've been more experienced.

He suddenly turned around. "May I help you, young gentleman?" He said, his voice so sweet and fake it hurted.

"How old are you?" I blurted. Then I blushed, realizing how weird I must have seemed.

"I'm fourteen. And and and; may I mention that the Beast Ball in your hands is something I have taken an interest in..." The pretty boy said.

I raised an eyebrow. "My starter is in it."

"Oh? I'm sure there is a nice story behind that, but but but; I am a busy boy and I don't have time to waste." The pretty boy sniffed, and it took every fiber of my being to keep myself from just walking away. Rich snobs disgusted me. I wasn't even sure why this one was even here in Oldale Town.

"There is something I would very much _love_ to do with you. A one on one pokemon battle. If you lose, you hand over the Beast Ball and your starter inside it. If you win, I will let you become my humble servant. Agreed?"

I laughed. "Both of those suck! How about if I win, you give me four pokemon translators and a phone?"

The pretty boy huffed. "That reward for you isn't nearly as appealing, but but but; all the better for me! Heh, poor kids are so stupid."

I smirked, ready to wipe the floor with the snob. Then I remembered he was a year older than me, and I face-palmed. Since we had already agreed on stakes, it would be against trainer protocol to back off with accepting defeat.

"Where are we battling anyway?" I asked as the pretty boy starting walking towards the stairs.

"My villa in Canalave City," The pretty boy said.

"What's Canalave City?"

The pretty boy turned to look at me and rolled his eyes. "A big city in Sinnoh."

I laughed nervously. "Sinnoh as in the Sinnoh region?"

"Yes."

"WHAT? There's no way can just - just _go_ there! I mean, I'm part of a trainer group, I can't just travel across the world or something! That's not reasonable!"

The pretty boy looked back at me and laughed. "And yet it's reasonable for a green-bean trainer to challenge an ace trainer?"

I was taken aback. "Ace trainer?"

"Yes yes yes! Just because I'm fourteen years old doesn't mean I can't be an ace trainer," The pretty boy said, flipping his hair.

"heh heh... um... can we call off the battle?"

"Yes, of course. I'm not so cruel that I would take a new trainer's only pokemon. If someone took either my Purugly or my Luxray, I would be so devastated," The pretty boy said, pouting.

"Wow, thanks. Well... may I ask why you're here though? And thanks again for not being evil."

"It's nothing. And I'm here because I sensed a psychic shift down south of here. It's linked to a psychic shift in Castelia City, and it has some interesting implications. But but but; I've had enough fun talking to you. I'll take my leave; I need to get to work."

I nodded. "Thanks again. And could you tell me your name? I hope to challenge you on equal footing one day!"

The pretty boy smirked. "I'm Beaufort. I doubt you'll ever become an ace trainer, though."

I narrowed my eyes as I watched him leave. I would definitely make him frown one day.

"That was amusing," Arice said. I noticed Arice and Kyra standing off to the side. They must've seen and heard the whole conversation.

"Thanks for asking for four translators and keeping us in mind," Arice noted. "Too bad he didn't give us anything..."

"More importantly," Kyra said, adjusting her glasses. "he mentioned a psychic shift to the south of here. I would imagine that would be the aliens you said you saw yesterday, correct?"

I nodded. "Well, I guess."

Kyra clapped her hands together. "Siegal is then in Castelia City. I wouldn't know why, but if that rich kid had been telling the truth about the psychic change being linked to there, Siegal would be there."

"Wow! Exciting!" Arice exclaimed. "Shall that be our destination?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you two wanted to become champions? Shouldn't you first clear Hoenn before going to another region? Not that I don't want to go though. If I can find Ray, that would be amazing!"

Arice shook her head vigorously. "Friends are more important than rushing to clear regions. Besides, we'll be going through tough training on our way there, won't we? We can start clearing gyms and stuff after finding Siegal!"

We all agreed on the plan, and decided to tell Tyson about it. Arice said Tyson wasn't that social and took his dream a bit too seriously. Apparently Arice and Kyra knew as much about his dream as I did.

We checked the room I had slept in the previous night; it was empty. We checked the other room, and there he was, watching the television.

"What are you watching?" I said. I wanted to make sure we would have a lasting friendship: starting off on a slightly bitter note wasn't exactly a way to make friends, so I would have to fix it.

Tyson looked at us and smiled. "Come. I'm watching the Pokemon League Finals from two months ago."

The three of us sat on the bed with him and checked it out. I hadn't actually seen it happen before, as my house didn't have a television, but I knew who was in it and who won.

I was mesmerized by the fluid action of the battling pokemon, and the shouts of the trainers Red and Blue, and the cheering of the immense crowd in the stadium. The entire group was quiet as we watched Red go down to his last pokemon; A Snorlax. Blue still had a fresh Charizard in addition to a slightly weakened Pidgeot which he was using.

After a few minutes, the battle was over. Red had won by taking a risk; his Snorlax had used Belly Drum. It meant the pokemon deals a lot of damage to itself, but its Physical moves would be extremely empowered.

"Blue was pretty close! You never know, next year he might defeat Red!" Arice said. I looked at her, and felt love... towards the group. Being together, watching things together... my journey hadn't really started yet, and despite all of annoying problems, focusing on the good things really helped me truly smile.

Tyson cleared his throat and offed the television with a remote. "Kyra already texted me the details of your discussion. I'm all right with going to Castelia City."

I looked at Tyson. I guessed he wasn't bitter about the loss after all . I resolved to just not mention it.

"When will we be setting out?" Kyra asked.

Tyson shrugged. "I think right after we decide how we're going to Castelia City. That's pretty important."

We all agreed, and Kyra went to the first floor of the pokemon center to print out a world map from her phone.

"I was wondering what pokemon you girls had? You already know about my starter," I said when Kyra left.

"Arice has a Mudkip. Kyra has an Abra," Tyson said, stretching his arms and legs.

We settled into small talk for the next few minutes, mostly talking about Ray. I found it annoying that they kept on calling him Siegal, even after knowing his real name, but I guess Ray was kind of a dumb name. My name was way better.

Kyra came back with a map printed on a standard-sized sheet of paper. She laid it on the table, and the four of us crowded around and peered at it.

"I was thinking we could go to Petalburg City and ride on a ship from there to Unova," Tyson said.

Kyra nodded. "Since Unova is at the lower east area of the mainland, the ship would be moving southwest. The closest city would be the northeastern-most city of Unova; Humilau City," she said, pointing to its location on the map. "It actually has a water type gym leader. The thing is, in Unova, the gym leaders are numbered by difficulty; and Humilau's gym is the last and hardest one; the tenth, I believe."

I raised an eyebrow. "I heard numbered gyms in regions exist because they correspond to the strength of wild pokemon in the area. If we can't compete against any pokemon there, it wouldn't be a good use of time."

"Yes. A closer and easier location to go to, also on the east coast of Unova, is Striaton City. It is home to the first gym. From there, we can follow the roads to reach Castelia City," Kyra said.

"Yay! That can be our first gym challenge!" Arice exclaimed.

"That does work," Tyson said. "We'll just need to get the money somehow."

"Oh, we can think of that later. Deal?" Arice said, a wide grin on her face.

We all agreed on packing our stuff for the rest of the day, and setting out first thing next morning to Petalburg City. The internet estimated it would take around a week to reach Petalburg City. As we went about working, I was happy that I could get to go on actual journey. And it would be in the western hemisphere. Castelia was considering to be the largest city in the world. And that's where I was headed.

With everything prepared, and all of us left without cash, we went to sleep in the same places as the night before, thinking positively about what the future had in store for us.

* * *

Atop the tallest building in the Ultra Planet, Reek, an old man in a white coat, grovelled before his god. The room they were in was at the highest story, and it had a floor and ceiling made completely of a rare black material. The absence of walls let in a ferociously cold wind that howled throughout the room, and at the same time, it overlooked the city of Ultra Megalopolis below.

"Please! It was an accident!" Reek exclaimed, grovelling before his god. His god's black body was made of a black crystalline material. It had disproportionate body parts, with large claws, prisms, and spikes everywhere jutting out from its body. Reek's god, and the god of everyone in the Ultra Planet, was Necrozma.

 **You are foolish to have betrayed us.**

"No please! I'll fix it! I have a family!"

A few seconds passed before Necrozma responded. **Very well. You will not be allowed to enter Ultra Megalopolis until you return with that baby Poipole. Is that understood?**

"But my family will be-"

 **IS THAT UNDERSTOOD, IMBECILE!**

Reek wiped away the tears on his face. "Yes master, I will devote myself completely to the task. Thank you for providing my lowly self with this opportunity."

 **Now leave.**

Reek got up, bowed, and walked down the stairs. _For my family... I must find that boy and get back that Poipole. At all costs._

* * *

Chapter 5 MC/age/pokemon changes:

new MC: Beaufort (age: 14) - Purugly, Luxray

Arice - found out to have a Mudkip

Kyra - found out to have an Abra

Red - found out to have a Snorlax

Blue - found out to have a Charizard and a Pidgeot

Reek made into a main character (age: ?) - possesses two Naganadel


	6. Aliens and Ponds

AN: If you were starting to get annoyed that it has been five chapters and there's no mention of the silver fang yet... the wait is over! I introduce it in this chapter.

* * *

I woke up on the ground again. This time, though, Arice was still in the room; she was sleeping in the bed.

I opened the blinds of the window and noted that it was still early dawn; there was minimal light. I usually never woke up so early. I must not have been that tired.

After I went through my morning routine, I sat down on one of the wooden chairs and tried to think of what I wanted to do. I didn't want to wake Arice up, as we had gone to bed pretty late last night; the other three in my group had spent a lot of time teaching me how to play various card games, while all four of our starters had played together.

While I was thinking, fidgeting with my Beast Ball, I realized I could watch TV on mute. I looked for the remote, and remembered that Tyson's Gastly had flushed it down the toilet the night before. Giving up on finding entertainment, I went back to sleep on the couch.

* * *

Reek watched from outside a pokemon center room on the second floor. He was on the roof, leaning down to peek through the tiny slit at the top of the window that the blinds didn't cover.

He had found the boy who had the Poipole. As he was leaning down, he nearly fell of the roof. He yelped loudly and managed to maintain his grip. This seemed to wake up the boy. Reek decided he would follow the boy and pickpocket the Poipole. After all, the boy could've been a powerful trainer, so a straight up fight may not turn in Reek's favor.

 _I guess I'll wait on the roof of this building until he leaves. I can steal the Beast Ball then._

* * *

It was a few hours after I went to sleep during early dawn that our group was ready to set out. After we had eaten breakfast (which was thankfully free for pokemon trainers) and gathering our things, we all left the building together. I felt a little tingling feeling in the back of my neck, as if we were being watched, but I couldn't see anyone. At least if it was a bandit or something, us four trainers travelling together wouldn't have been an easy target.

"Onwards to Petalburg City!" Arice yelled, and we all released our pokemon as we reached the outskirts of Oldale Town. A Poipole, a Gastly, a Mudkip, and an Abra.

We entered the route, and I noticed that on either side of the path laid out, there was grass growing up to our shoulders.

"There are some interesting pokemon here. Maybe we could try catching our second pokemon..." Tyson said, cracking his knuckles.

"Aw, it's so hot!" I complained, wishing I had bought a hat.

"It's fine! I heard there are ponds here, so maybe you could take a swim!" Arice chirped.

"The ponds won't be clean, Arice," Kyra noted. "Anyways, we should get going."

We all walked down the path, noting the various wild pokemon that walked by. All of them ran off when they saw us; I guess our numbers were too intimidating.

"Hey! You people!" A girl yelled. The four of us turned around to see a girl around our age, with blonde hair tied in a ponytail with a pink ribbon.

"Can one of you tell me which way it is to the Buzzing Pond?"

"What's that?" I wondered aloud.

"It must be one of the ponds in this area. I don't actually know it myself, though," Kyra whispered to me.

Apparently none of us four knew what it was, and we told her so.

"You people are all dumb!" The girl said, before skipping off towards Oldale Town.

"To be honest, I thought she might have wanted to battle with us," I said.

Tyson laughed. "She didn't seem like a trainer. Too bratty, I guess."

We decided to continue moving on, but there was a problem; Kyra was missing.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Arice called, cupping her hands to her mouth.

For the first few seconds, we weren't that scared, thinking she might've ran after a wild pokemon, but then as seconds turned into minutes, we realized she might not have been coming back from wherever she went.

"Did she run off after that kid?" I asked.

Tyson shook his head. "She wouldn't do something like that."

I nodded, then I noticed Arice was also missing. "Hey Tyson... is this a prank?"

He quickly realized it was just the two of us, and paled. "Kyra would never agree to do a prank. Is Arceus erasing their existence because they are too weird?" Tyson said.

I raised an eyebrow, realized he was starting to go slightly insane. I felt a sudden chill, and remembered the feeling from before that someone was watching us.

I was about to tell Tyson about that feeling before I noticed he was also missing. I gasped, and turned around in all directions. It was just me and my Poipole now, which I had returned a little while before when I had realized no wild pokemon was going to suddenly attack us.

"Now what?" I muttered.

"You really only have one pokemon? How pitiful," A deep voice said. I scanned every direction around me, but all I saw was dried grass and the gravel path.

"What do you want?" I yelled nervously.

"That Poipole. Hand it over and you get your friends back."

"No!" I yelled, and I started running across the path. I didn't want to be captured by a maniac collector, or whoever that was!

While running, I turned around and saw a large, purple pokemon. It was something I hadn't seen before, but I knew what it was. A Naganadel. It has very similar colors to my Poipole, but it had the form of a kind of alien wasp, with spikes and stingers and what-not. It looked cool, but more importantly, it struck fear into the core of my being.

And it was fast. Very fast. I saw an old man in a white coat walk out from the tall grass, and smirk at me. I stopped running, and twisted to the side suddenly. The Naganadel chasing me zipped through the air where I had once been.

"SOMEONE HELP!" I yelled to the air. There didn't seem to be any trainers nearby. The only one we had seen was that Buzzing Pond girl, but she had gone in the opposite direction.

The Naganadel repositioned itself, and released a ball of purple goop from its mouth, headed towards me. It was sludge bomb. I had accepted my end. Even if I could live by giving away my starter, I would never be happy again.

"Sandslash! Rock Throw!" A female voice yelled. I saw a large rock collide with the Sludge Bomb in mid air, corroding the rock and spilling the sludge, but it was directly below the collision; not on me.

I looked around to spot my savior. It was the same girl with the pink ribbon, who now had six fully evolved pokemon out and around her, facing off against that old man in the white coat and his Naganadel. I had realized it was an alien who was attacking us, but I wasn't sure why he was interested in taking my Poipole. They had given it to me willingly, after all.

I noticed a Gallade running towards me, and it touched my forehead. Immediately, my surroundings changed. I was back at an entrance of the route to Petalburg City, in the outskirts of Oldale Town. It was a different entrance, however.

"Wha-"

 _'M_ _y queen has commanded me to teleport you away from the battle scene. I have done as she has told,_ ' A voice said. I realized it was in my mind.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, turning to the Gallade. "I've never had a psychic pokemon talk to me in my mind before!"

' _Your friends are elsewhere in the route. My queen realized a Pheromosa has been transporting them to various locations in the same route.'_

"Pheromosa? Oh yeah, the super fast Ultra Beast..."

The Gallade turned towards the pathway. ' _I have read your mind and I now know everything about you. I deem you fit to keep that Poipole. I will now take my leave._ '

"Wait!" I yelled, but the Gallade teleported away a second later. I looked around me, confused. I still had my Beast Ball and my backpack, but I was separated from my group. And why was that girl so powerful? Maybe she was also an ace trainer who came to investigate the psychic shift. But she was interested in the Buzzing Pond, not Littleroot Town.

I ran my fingers through my hair an focused on what made more sense.I assumed the other members of my group were still going to try making their way to Petalburg City. I decided to do the same.

I released my Poipole, and explained the situation to him. He nodded, still without any expression.

"Well, I'm going to have to survive a week in an unforgiving road all by myself. This'll be fun!"

"Poi!" My Poipole said.

I laughed and rubbed his head. "Alone with my pokemon, I meant. Hey, do you want me to catch another pokemon here? I actually have a few empty pokeballs in my backpack."

"Poi!" My poipole said. Apparently he did have emotion, but his face never showed it.

"Well, let's get going then!" I ran into the pathway, with my Poipole following behind. It only took a minute before a wild pokemon jumped in front of me. A Zigzagoon.

"Poipole! Acid!" I yelled, and my Poipole zoomed into the Zigzagoon at point blank range and loosed orange acid that immediately fainted the wild pokemon.

"Wow! Nice job!" I praised, truly surprised that my Poipole could one hit KO a wild pokemon in these areas. Then again, near human settlements, the pokemon were weaker. It was in the true wilderness where the stronger ones resided.

We continued on the path for the next couple dozen minutes, defeating wild pokemon, picking random paths when we reached a fork in the road, and complaining about the heat.

Then, as a Surskit waddled across the road, and I told my starter to use Peck, I realized it was tiring. It had taken a few seconds before registering what I had said.

"We should take a break," I said after the Surskit had fainted. My starter shook its head.

"No, I don't want you to push yourself. Here, take this berry," I said, taking an Oran Berry out of my backpack. Oran Berries were berries that relieved a bit of fatigue from pokemon, and they weren't that expensive. They were a staple item for all kinds of trainers around the world.

My Poipole ate it and visibly perked up. "I'm happy you liked it," I said, and I looked up at the sun's general location. I estimated it was nearing noon. After that hearty breakfast we had in the morning, though, I wasn't feeling hungry.

"We can keep on going, I guess."

The two of us continued. I slowly started feeling like the wild pokemon weren't the main issue, but the heat and energy levels were. We did come across pokemon that my Poipole had a little bit of difficulty with, but none of them were able to land proper hits on my starter.

"Hey Poipole. There's no species here worth capturing. Maybe later on, we could find a rare species and capture it," I told my Poipole.

Finally a few hours after noon (a time I estimated), we took a break in a clearing. That way, if wild pokemon rushed out from the tall grass, my Poipole and I could detect them faster. I took out my lunch; bread. It was the hard kind of bread that was healthy and as appetizing as a Garbodor's rear end.

After suffering through my lunch, I got up and the two of us continued. _This is actually pretty boring,_ I thought. I was feeling miserable, lonely, and hot. Completely unlike the magnificent adventures I had dreamt of as a kid.

"Poi!" My Poipole said, tugging at my sleeve. I looked to where it was pointing, and I saw a pond a few meters off of the path I was walking on. It was surrounded by reeds, and a few Surskit were walking around it.

"Well, isn't that interesting. Oh look, a sign!" I got closer, seeing a wooden post near the pond. It read 'Buzzing Pond'.

I laughed. The pond was only a few meters wide and long! Why would an ace trainer be interested in it! I decided to take a look, walking into the tall grass. I felt my legs itching, but I ignored it and walked to the edge of the pond.

"Masquerain!" A pokemon said. I looked up, and saw the evolved form of Surskit; Masquerain. A fully evolved pokemon.

"Poipole! Focus on Peck!" I yelled, and I ran back to the path. I watched my Poipole battling the Masquerain, and I felt cold sweat forming. Kyra had said evolved forms of pokemon were extremely rare in a route like this! Well, considering my luck, I should've expected to see one.

The Masquerain sent a Gust flying at my Poipole, which blew him into the pond. The Masquerain then did a little dance in the air, and high above, dark clouds started forming, and it was only a few seconds before it started raining.

I recognized it as a weather changing move. At least the sun wasn't beating down on me anymore. But more importantly, I had to get us out of there. I frantically thought of my next course of action.

My Poipole thankfully got out of the pond. "Acid! Keep distance!" I yelled. My Poipole complied, floating around the air at erratic angles and using Acid. The opponent Masquerain was too powerful, however, flying through the air at breakneck speeds. I didn't even consider trying to catch it, or defeat it. Escape really was our only option. We wouldn't be saved by a super powerful trainer twice in one day, after all.

"Poipole! Let's hide in the grasses!" I yelled. My Poipole looked at me for a second before doing so; it went down into the grass at the same time I did. I was lying down on the ground. It was muddy before of the rain, but I didn't care.

"Masquerain!" The Masquerain made a _whoosh_ noise, and right next to me, the grass was chopped into fine pieces, and the topsoil was overturned. Air Cutter.

"Poipole! Hide in the pond! I'll run away as a decoy!" I yelled. I got up and ran on the path, not waiting to see if Poipole listened to me.

As I ran, I didn't have to look back to know the Masquerain was following me. It was buzzing behind me. I knew it would catch up to me. Turns out my diversion idea was crappy. Then the buzzing grew louder, so loud, it almost reached the decibel level of one of Ray's tantrums.

I fell to the ground, clutching my ears, and groaning in pain. The buzzing suddenly stopped, and I exhaled loudly. My head hurt - a lot. I turned around and saw my Poipole fighting the Masquerain, using Peck. A head-on fight.

"Poipole no! You'll faint!" I yelled, but my Poipole didn't listen. Hadn't I told him to hide?

I crawled across the ground, returning back to the pond, and not caring one bit how dirty I was, I fell into the pond. The Surskit from before had fled a long time ago, so I was alone with the dirt and water. Only my head was above the surface, watching my Poipole get beaten up by the Masquerain. The decisive move was an Air Cutter, which hit my Poipole and fainted it.

I felt a pain in my chest, but I also felt a pain in my foot. I picked up a silver-colored object from the bottom of the pond; I had stepped on it. It looked like a curved fang of sorts. I looked at the Masquerain that was now flying towards me. I decided that the fang would be my weapon. The Masquerain seemed to be aware of the fact that pokemon moves didn't affect humans, and thus was apparently going to try to bite me to death.

As it came closer, I stabbed it with the fang, but missed. The Masquerain managed to tear off a tiny bit of flesh off my arms and legs before I stabbed it through its head. Hot blood spurted out onto my face. I ignored the blood and continued stabbing the pokemon. I knew it would just faint; after all, pokemon didn't die. They just fainted, and when revived from it, their injuries were erased.

After stabbing it several times, I was confused. Blood was still pouring out of it, even though it had already stopped moving. That wasn't supposed to happen.

It was dead. I realized so a few seconds later. I remembered stabbing Wurmple with sticks back when I was younger. They would stop bleeding quickly, as fainted pokemon entered some sort of stasis. This case was different. I looked at the fang I was holding, and threw up. Whatever that fang was, it shouldn't have existed.

* * *

Chapter 6 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Reek - found out to have a Pheromosa


	7. Grime

I was covered in mud, silt, and blood (both mine and a Masquerain's). I was holding in my hands an unknown fang that could actually kill pokemon. My starter had fainted, and Tyson's backpack held all of the revives, so I was left without any pokemon to defend myself. I'm perfectly fine.

At least the rain had stopped, and for the first time that day, I was happy the sun was beating down on me. It was drying all of the grime on me, which was now caking on my skin and clothes. I only had four set of clothing, meant to last two days each, but I had soiled my first set within only a few hours.

Being the indecisive kid I was, I spent many minutes contemplating what I should do. Without my Poipole, I couldn't travel; if a wild pokemon decided to attack me, I would be dead.

I decided to go backwards, because I wasn't that far from Oldale Town. Even though I would be arriving at Petalburg City late, it was my only option for survival. So I retraced my steps after returning my Poipole and pocketing the fang, wearily remembering which paths I had taken.

As I was slowly lumbering across the path, I saw a trainer walking along, wearing a straw hat atop his messy black hair. Probably a new trainer like me.

I quickened my pace and the trainer noticed me. If it wasn't for my pitiable condition, I would've laughed at his expression. He completely paled, then his eyes bulged, then he rubbed his eyes, then his eyes bulged some more, then he threw up in the grass.

I didn't pay him much attention as I shuffled by him. He just stared at me the entire time, his mouth wide open. At least I didn't have an ego.

I got tired pretty quickly, but I managed to grit my teeth and push onwards. My life flashed before my eyes on my slow way back to Oldale Town. I thought I would die several times from blood loss, even though I knew all of the blood around my wounds had already clotted. Plus, the wounds weren't that deep.

It was around an hour after the Masquerain battle that it sank in how fast I had ran, and how far I had gotten. I was probably only a third of the way back.

I decided to just rest and eat one of the snacks I had packed. I took out some cup noodles and started slowly eating.

That was a bad idea.

Immediately, a Poochyena appeared out of the grass, sniffing the air. It then fixed its dark red eyes on my cup noodles. I realized my cup noodles were giving off a faint scent, and I sighed, remembering being taught of the dangers of food eating while in the wild from trainer school. I had been too tired and hungry to remember that before.

There was a way to escape the situation, however. It would mean sacrificing my cup noodles. I threw my snack in one direction, and quickly started limping in the opposite direction, towards Oldale Town.

The Poochyena didn't follow the cup noodles, however. It followed me. I was definitely not in a condition to outpace it, so I gave up and fell back down on the ground.

"Poochyena!" It barked in a deep voice, and started sniffing the blood on me. Which meant all over my body.

I started crying, and I felt like giving up on being a trainer. I couldn't even reach Petalburg City. What a weakling I was. The Poochyena then stuck its muzzle up my backpack, and I heard a clinking noise. An idea came to my mind.

I tensed my muscles, and my arms sprang towards my back pack. I gritted my teeth against the pain and unzipped the largest pocket. The Poochyena was barking loudly, and seemed like it was about to try biting my arms.

Before it could, however, I took out an empty pokeball and threw it at the Poochyena in desperation.

With a yelp, the pokemon was sucked inside, and I watched as the ball shook once. Then it shook twice. Then the pokemon broke free, my pokeball breaking into pieces. The Poochyena was now furious, and it bared its fangs.

I fished around in my bag and threw another pokeball. I got up and started running with my torn legs while the ball shook. I didn't care about catching it; if I could delay it by using up the four pokeballs in my bag, I might've been able to get away.

As my second pokeball broke into pieces, the Poochyena, glaring daggers, bounded towards me. I threw another pokeball and continued running like my life depended on it. Oh yeah, it did depend on it.

I reached another fork in the road, and after remembering which one I had come from, continued running. The Poochyena wasn't chasing after me. What if, maybe, I could get enough of a headstart for it to not know which path I had taken? I smiled, then winced from the pain of shifting the crusts of grime and blood on my face.

As I slowed down, feeling too tired, hungry, and pained to continue, I was sure the Poochyena had lost interest in me. I decided to sit down again and take a sip of water.

I realized I had left my backpack behind. I reasoned that there was a high chance the Poochyena wasn't there anymore. I could probably return there, get a drink, and continue. I decided that was the best course of action and returned to where I had been before. It took a long time, but I made it, and I got my water bottle and drank a bit from it.

I looked around to see if the Poochyena was still nearby. I instead saw a Pokeball lying on the ground, still intact. I raised an eyebrow. It took a few seconds before realization dawned on me. I crawled over and picked it up. I threw it.

Out came a confused Poochyena. I laughed. "Hello. Looks like you're my second pokemon!"

The Poochyena glared at me. "POOCHYENA!"

"I hate you too. So. I want to give you a nickname, you trashy little garbage can of worms. How about Grime?" I said, feeling like I had lost some marbles. But I didn't really care. I had caught a pokemon, but I didn't really care. In all honesty, there were only two things I wanted to do at that point; vent out my frustration, and reach Oldale Town.

"Pooch!" The Poochyena barked.

"Well, I guess I'll just return you now," I said, returning the Poochyena to its pokeball, which I decided to keep in my left hand. It was for in case another wild pokemon would come out and attack me. I took out another one of my cup noodles and started eating it, a little happy that I had a form of protection now. I did plan to release it after I returned to Oldale Town, however. A pokemon I hated, and a pokemon that hated me... why keep it?

I finally reached the outskirts of Oldale Town a few hours later. I had finished my water supply, gone through half of my cup noodles, and thought of giving up more time than Ray had daydreamed about being champion. And that was saying something.

My face brightened as I saw a woman walking towards me, her face full of concern.

"Ohmygoshwhathappenedtoyou!" The woman screamed, and she called someone.

The next couple hours were a blur. I was taken in by two burly men who carried me to the town's makeshift hospital (it was actually someone's house), I was cleaned off and my two occupied pokeballs were taken, presumably to the pokemon center. The doctors told me my wounds weren't deep, just numerous, and that it would take only a few days for them to completely heal. He also took a lot of stuff from my backpack and told me they were compensation for his efforts. I didn't really care that much.

That night, I was put in a warm bed, and I fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Arice collected her pokemon from the pokemon center and thanked the nurse. It was the Oldale Town pokemon center. She had decided that with the resources split among the four people in the group, she couldn't have made it to Petalburg City. On the way back to Oldale Town, though, she had actually caught her second pokemon. A Gothita.

As Arice walked out the pokemon center, with her two pokemon at her belt, she smiled. _I guess I can get back on the road the next morning. I need money though..._

Arice decided to wander around Oldale Town and see if there was some quick cash she could make. She noticed an old woman who had fallen on the ground, a walking stick a meter away.

Arice forgot her quest for money and she ran over to pick up the old woman and give her the walking stick.

"Thank you, dear child," The old woman said.

"You're welcome! Another great deed by Arice the amazing!" Arice was about to skip off, but she noticed the old woman's outstretched hands. There was quite a lot of money in them.

"Keep that safe with you! Someone might try stealing that!" Arice exclaimed.

"No dear. Keep it with you. The world needs more helpful people. Young kids these days never respect us older people..." The old woman said.

Arice realized she had never seen the woman before. For a fellow Oldale resident, that was unheard of. "Thanks... but, I have to ask: who are you?"

The old woman smiled. "My grandson came here for a job or sorts. When I met him in the pokemon center, he just pretended like he didn't know me. So rude..."

Arice laughed. "It's fine! And I would normally refuse such a large quantity of money, but I'm in need." Arice took the cash. "Really, I want to thank you. Can you tell me the name of your grandson? I want to see if I can do something for you."

The old woman smiled. "Beaufort. He's actually an ace trainer of the Pokemon League. And he's only 14; the youngest one. It went to his head, I suppose.

"I see... well thanks for the money! I'll be sure to get him to care more about you!" Arice chriped, and waving goodbye, left to Oldale Town's pokemart.

* * *

I woke up the next morning feeling much better. My mind was now un-traumatized, I was clean, and I hurted less from my wounds. I got up from the bed, and looked through my backpack. I still had by two occupied pokeballs (which I pocketed), and I had only a few of the things I used to have. Most notably, all of my cup noodles were missing. It was obviously the doctor. But, he _did_ save my life... kind of...

I felt like a weirdo because of how I had acted the day before. Of course, I had faced near death at the hands of three different pokemon in one day, so I guess that warranted a little bit of insanity.

I walked out of the bedroom and and I thanked the doctor.

"You are welcome. Those cup noodles were great by the way. Definitely enough compensation for your treatment. You may leave."

I exited the house and immediately remembered my second pokemon. A Poochyena.

I decided to release my starter alongside Grime, as I couldn't be sure Grime still wanted to kill me.

Grime still wanted to kill me.

I yelped as Grime jumped at me, and my Poipole used Peck on it, sending Grime flying sideways.

"Poi!"

"Poochyena!"

I looked at Grime, and saw pain in its eyes. My expression softened. "Hey Grime!"

Grime looked at me and bared its teeth.

"I want to keep you!" I yelled. "Even though you're one of the most common species of pokemon in Hoenn! I will train you to become stronger than anything you've imagined! Together, we will explore the world and empower each other!" I yelled, raw feelings coursing through me. I was probably still insane.

That seemed to calm Grime down. "Poochyena?"

I sighed, wishing I had a pokemon translator. Having one would make bonding with pokemon so much easier.

"Hey! What are you doing here!" Arice exclaimed.

I jolted in shock and turned around to see Arice, with a Gothita and Mudkip next to her.

"I... I nearly died a lot, so I returned..."

Arice laughed. "And that's why I love you! Anyways, I got a lot of money, so I bought a lot of stuff."

I raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

Arice shook her head. "Ignore the first part. But yes, I have a lot of things I bought for all of us! And I caught a Gothita!"

"I'm still not... okay, you got a lot of money, no need to ask how... you said you love me, you were probably joking... you caught a Gothita... a psychic type pokemon rare in the Hoenn region... you bought a lot of stuff..."

Arice laughed again. "Focus! Look, I have a pokemon translator for you!" She procured a shiny, black earpiece.

I salivated. "Those are so expensive!" I grabbed it. "Arice, how'd you get the money!"

"I helped some rich old lady. Ah, isn't life fun and simple!" Arice said, a dreamy expression on her face.

I looked at her in disgust. "If only you had known what I went through yesterday."

* * *

AN: I've been churning out chapters like crazy. It's super fun writing! I haven't been getting very many reviews though, which is kind of sad.

Disclaimer-ish notice: If you think it was plot armor or something to give Arice so much money, just know it was supposed to add to her perspective of viewing life as fun and games; she is super lucky. I intend to change that (evil laugh erupts from the corner of the room you are in) to make her character get an epiphany and be interesting and all that.

And yes, the Poochyena will be known as Grime for the rest of the story. I hope it will remind you of the fun experience the viewpoint character had this chapter each time you read 'Grime'.

* * *

Chapter 7 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Viewpoint Character: catches a Poochyena (nicknamed Grime)

Arice: catches a Gothita


	8. Immature Pokemon

Arice tilted her head to the side. "You do have a lot of bandages. They don't look too serious, though. Think positively!" she said with a double thumbs up.

I sighed, and contemplated telling her that I had actually killed a pokemon with a magical item (or whatever it was). I had pieced together that the girl with the pink ribbon had known something about it; she wanted to go to Buzzing Pond, after all. I decided that I would think about the fang later, and focus on the pokemon translator and my two pokemon.

"Hey Arice, I have to thank you for this translator." I noticed she was wearing one too. I put on the translator.

I looked to my two pokemon, and paled as I saw them battling. Like, actually _battling._

 _"_ Hey! You guys are on the same team!" I yelled, forgetting my temporary happiness.

Grime looked at me, and bounded up to my feet.

"My lord, I apologize."

I did a double take at the deep voice I had just heard. "Did... _you_ just say that, Grime?"

"Trainer, he very mean pokemon." A buzzing sort of voice stated in monotone.

"Wow! I can actually understand you guys!"

"I'll be taking my leave. I'll come back here in half an hour, ok? Bye!" Arice said, running off with her pokemon.

I watched her leave, understanding that Arice wanted me to be alone with my team. She may be annoyingly lucky and always happy, but at least she's understanding.

"My lord, you said you could understand us? So those translators work?" The deep voice said inquisitively. It was Grime.

"Yes! Wow, this is amazing!" I exclaimed, picking up my Poochyena. I was shocked at how warm and comfortable its fur was. I failed to remember why I had previously disliked this species.

"Trainer, he evil. Trainer, listen to me," The buzzing voice stated, again in monotone. It was definitely my starter.

"Poipole, stop fighting. Grime, why do you call me 'My lord'?'"

"Trainer, he evi-"

"My lord, it is becau-"

"Trainer, he evi-"

"because I am-"

"Trainer, h-"

"STOP!" I yelled. My two pokemon instantly shut up. "One at a time, all right!"

Grime immediately made a kicked Growlithe expression.

"Wow, that's some real talent there with that expression. Anyways, I'm sorry for yelling, you two. I just want us all to get along. So, Poipole, why are you mad at... actually, I should give you a nickname first..."

"Trainer, you as indecisive as ever." The buzzing voice montoned.

"Well, there are SO many things to catch up on, okay? It isn't easy. Arceus only knows what I went through after you fainted."

"My lord, he is but an alien pest, too weak to support you," Grime spat.

"Trainer, he evil. See? But I am kind pokemon. I am sorry for letting you down."

I walked to my starter and gave it a smile and a pat on the head. "No, I didn't expect you to win. Your bravery was beyond my belief. I'm happy to have you."

And for the first time in my life, I saw a little bit of emotion creep onto my starter's face; a hint of a smile. It was gone just as quickly as it had arrived, but I knew it had been there.

"My lord, I am deeply apologetic as well. I-"

"Grime, end your useless speech. Let indecisive trainer do things one at time."

"Thanks... I guess." I said, scratching my head. "Well, starter, you will now be known as 'Monotone'. Deal?"

"Heh... Monotone. Serves you right, vile denizen of mutated abodes."

"Trainer, he evil. I accept nickname. It better than Grime, anyways."

My Poochyena barked loudly.

"All right, Grime, your turn," I said, deciding to ignore their quarrelling for the time being. At least they weren't using pokemon moves on each other anymore. "I want us all to be friends. I don't need to be called 'my lord'.

"My lord... I would rather not speak of my past and depress you."

"Trainer, he evil."

"Shut it, you buttless vermin."

"There there. Grime, I will respect your wish. Just please keep in mind I want us all to be friends. And Monotone, Grime is a little harsh with words but he's still your teammate. As the starter, you are the most senior pokemon and you should be a little more mature."

Turns out that was the wrong thing to say. "MY LORD! He is no senior for being caught before me! I am stronger! I will prove it!"

"Trainer, he evil. He weak and too insecure about it."

That seemed to hit a nerve. Grime whimpered and pawed at its face. "My lord, I join you because you say you can make me stronger. Please, help me with this."

I raised an eyebrow, surprised to see a weak side in Grime. So that's why he suddenly stopped wanting to kill me _._ I was happy that at least one mystery had been solved.

"I will. I hope we can have a lot of fun together."

"Not with Grime around, no."

"Shut it *&^%head!"

"GRIME! No swearing!" I yelled. As soon as I said it, I realized something. Being a pokemon trainer meant being a parent. I would be raising these previously wild pokemon, who were immature beyond belief, into mature powerhouses. I was only 13 years old though; I was still a kid myself.

"If you say so, my lord."

"Thanks," I said, trying to catch my breath. "Now. I want you two to get along."

"Trainer, battles are one pokemon on team a time. There not teamwork."

I looked at Monotone. "There _are_ double battles. Plus, in the wild, you'll need to work together. I hope to do a lot of exploring, so most of our time will be spent there."

"My lord, I will listen to anything you say except befriend a scumbag like this trashy weirdo."

"Grime... oh well, I hope with time you guys can get better at teamwork," I said.

I looked up at the sky to notice many clouds dotting the bright blue sky. It wasn't as hot as the day before, but it was still uncomfortable. The heat and arguments were sapping my energy faster than I would've liked.

"So Grime, could you tell me your moves, gender, ability... that stuff?"

Grime sniffed the air. "I'm a proud female with the ability... the ability Rattled; when I'm hit by bug, dark, or ghost type moves, I get faster. I know Tackle, Howl, and Sand Attack. Powerful, right?"

I smiled. "Yep. I already have some great ideas for your battle style. Focus on swift and decisive action." I turned to Monotone. "You are great for slowly hacking away at opponents. A nice contrast, I would say."

"My lord, may I battle now? I itch to show you my strength."

"Hey!" Arice said, running over to us before I could respond to Grime. "I have all the supplies we need in my backpack!" She had a new blue cap on. It was a few shades darker than her hair. She also had her two pokemon with her.

I noticed her and smiled. "Let's get going!" I turned to look at my pokemon. "You guys ready? You'll get to battle wild pokemon!"

"YES MY LORD!" Grime shouted.

* * *

And we were on our way to Petalburg City.

There were only two humans in our group now, but we had four pokemon together. Grime preferred running in wide circles around us, chasing as many wild pokemon as it could to defeat them. As it wasn't yet strong enough, Arice's two pokemon often had to run to the rescue. Monotone stayed right next to me, saying it was ok with being my 'last line of defense'.

"Having more than one pokemon is fun!" Arice exclaimed while we were walking.

I nodded. "But they're so hard to handle, aren't they?"

Arice shook her head as we turned a corner. "It's all part of the experience." She suddenly stopped. "Ah, looks like your Poochyena fainted."

I looked in shock. Several meters away, a Taillow had managed to defeat my pokemon. Arice's Mudkip quickly dispatched it with a few well-aimed Water Guns.

I ran over to my pokemon's fallen body, half on the path, half in the the grass. Arice handed me a revive, and I healed Grime. I thanked Arice and scolded my Poochyena.

"Grime, you stupid weakling," Monotone said with a hint of a snicker.

"My lord, I am terribly sorry for overestimating my skill. I will be more careful next time."

And the day went by just like that. We ate bread and cup noodles, drank plenty of water, peed and pooped in the grass, and had to revive Grime a half-dozen times. At least she had pep, which is something my starter seriously needed.

It was soon night time. Arice and I got in our sleeping bags and said good night to our pokemon as we returned them to their pokeballs.

"That was pretty boring. But I feel accomplished, having managed to survive this long. It's all thanks to you," I said to Arice.

"Aw, it's nothing. So anyways, I wanted to talk to you - alone - about something."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well... you see, there's a pokemon species I would really like to have one of."

"That's it? We can definitely hunt it after we find Ray. What is it?"

I heard Arice's sleeping bag shift on the ground. "I don't know the name. But it's the pokemon that ran me away from the group yesterday."

"Ran me away... oh! Pheromosa. Wait, that's an Ultra Beast!"

Arice laughed. "Really? Still, I want it. You'd help me catch it?"

"Yep. That can be our adventure after Ray."

We settled into silence after that. Our conversation had been a little awkward and random. Plus, I was actually hoping she would forget about the Pheromosa. Those were nearly impossible to catch. They could be found in the wild all around Alola, but they were extremely rare, Beast Balls were super expensive, and they moved so fast that landing a pokeball on it would be next to impossible.

As Arice's breaths evened, I looked up at the moon. It was a perfect circle that night, and shining silver. Which reminded me of the silver-colored fang in my pocket. I didn't want to use it; something that could kill pokemon didn't belong in this universe. I thought about burying it right there, but my paranoia won over. What if some pokemon dug it up or something? And what does that girl with the pink ribbon in her hair have to do with it?

As I continued to contemplate the matter, I slowly fell asleep.

* * *

Reek was angry. Very angry. He knew he should have taken one of the trainers hostage, but he hadn't thought of that before. His plan was ruined; he had needed to run away from the powerful girl with the pink ribbon, but not without losing all of the pokemon he had brought with him; all but two of his total team.

He had a family that needed him back in Ultra Megalopolis. A family he couldn't return to until he got back that Poipole.

 _It isn't over, young boy. Even if I only have two pokemon... Oh crap, wait; That girl has way more pokemon from our world. She has two Naganadel, plus many others! She's more important to capture. Yes... I will first defeat her, then find that young boy and mutilate his corpse for troubling me so. Oh yes..._

* * *

Chapter 8 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Viewpoint Character's Poipole gets a nickname: 'Monotone'.

Reek is down to just two unknown pokemon now.


	9. Foolish Decisions

Arice and I set out on the road the next morning after eating breakfast.

"I will please you today, my lord!" Grime said with her deep voice.

I laughed. "You'll be able to do that if you don't keep fainting."

We followed the exact same plan as the previous evening that entire day. I was sick and tired of the blazing sun and tasteless rations we had to eat for meals. We came across a pond in the afternoon, and even though it wasn't the Buzzing Pond, I made sure our group stayed far away from it, memories of pain flooding my mind.

And the day ended, just like that. We all had fun suffering, and Grime had only fainted twice in the whole day (both because of overconfidence). I taught both of my pokemon new battle strategies, and I had fun getting chased by three wild Zigzagoon at once. Monotone came to my rescue, and had rubbed it in Grime's face after succeeding in wiping all three out with a single well-aimed Acid.

We all made camp that night again, sleeping in sleeping bags, and pokemon inside pokeballs.

"I'm honestly surprised nothing that interesting happened today," I said. "You're like a good luck charm, Arice."

"Thanks!" Arice chirped. "But I don't get _everything_ I want. Remember, I tried catching that Surskit and failed? I really wanted a Masquerain. Their wings are pretty, but they are super strong and ferocious."

"You don't say."

We slept that night soundly, and we were thankfully not killed by Rayquaza that might've felt like randomly attacking us. If Arice hadn't been there, something like that might've happened to me.

The next morning, we set out again, and the boredom became the one greatest problem. It was extremely repetitive; just long, forked paths everywhere (usually with half-broken signs), and a bunch of tall, dried up grass everywhere else. There wasn't that much variation in wild pokemon either, now that we'd been on the route for a long time and had seen every species there at least a hundred times (except for evolved forms; there was only one I'd seen, which was the Masquerain I had killed).

We slept again, and the next morning, we set out again. But as we reached a crossroads a few minutes later, something happened.

"My lord, I do not wish to take the left path. Choose the right path."

"Why's that?"

"Please, my lord?"

"You inconveniencing our group. Left way is right way. Signs says," Montone said.

Grime glared at Monotone. "I know. But... it's dangerous to go left. Bad pokemon."

"Oh yeah!" Arice exclaimed. "Remember how the middle of the route is supposed to be where the strongest pokemon live?"

"That is correct!" Arice's Mudkip, Mudtwo, said in its rubbery voice. Mudtwo acted in almost the same way as Arice, and agreed with her on everything. Quite unlike my starter.

"Exactly. I am from that area to the left. It isn't good for trainers like you. Let's go right," Grime said.

It was silent as I felt five pairs of eyes resting on me. "Why are you all looking at me? I'm not exactly great at decision-making..."

"Voting - my recommendation." Monotone said, and we all agreed to it. Grime voted right... while the rest of us voted left.

"This isn't fair!" Grime complained, trying out its kicked growlithe expression.

I made sure to look away from it. "It makes sense. I mean, we should try braving any danger in order to save time. Tyson and Kyra are waiting for us, after all."

Grime still didn't budge, even while the rest of us had started walking down the left path.

"Grime, I invoke my royal power to command you to come with us down the left path," I said, faking a regal voice. It actually sounded more like an old man choking on his saliva, though.

Grime lowered his gaze. "Fine, as you say, my lord."

And we continued walking down the path. This time, Grime wasn't bounding around us in large circles, but instead was walking right next to me. The pokemon certainly were a bit stronger, and a higher and higher percentage of them were turning out to be Poochyena.

The day ended, with nothing else interesting. Grime never fainted, since she was actually being careful. We had to use a good amount of potions on all of our pokemon, however.

Then the next day started, and we set out again. This time, throughout the entire morning, Grime tried hiding behind the rest of us whenever another Poochyena attacked our group.

A while after noon, I jumped when a wild Poochyena, who had just appeared from the grass, spoke in a dark voice: "You were captured! Ha! So you ran away from our group, eh?"

I looked at Grime, and her eyes were actually watery. "Go away!" she yelled.

"Trainer, she definitely knows this pokemon," Montone said.

"They don't look like friends..." Arice said softly.

The wild Poochyena growled. "Humans. enjoy this weirdo Poochyena you've caught. Humph."

I frowned. "What did you just say?"

The wild Poochyena looked me in the eye. "You understand me? I see. I said that Poochyena you've caught is a stupid weirdo. Got a problem? Unhappy it was her you caught?"

I burned with fury. "You will not insult my pokemon! Grime, head on assault!" I yelled. Head on assault meant Grime would simply keep on using Tackle again and again against the opponent.

That's what happened. When Arice was about to send her pokemon to help, I stopped her. "She should do this alone. This pokemon insulted her, and she needs to beat him up herself."

It was over quickly. The opponent pokemon landed a few shots against Grime, but my pokemon easily overpowered the wild Poochyena. After winning, Grime looked at me and smiled... or at least, that's what I thought the expression on her face was supposed to be.

"I won! Thanks to your training, my lord... I won!" Grime started crying, and I awkwardly patted her head and congratulated her.

"You mildly competent," Montone said. I looked at my starter and smiled. Maybe they could actually get along if given time. But the mysteries and problems were far from over.

"You have some explaining to do, Grime. Why do they think you're weird?" I asked.

"My lord, it's... my ability. The term for it is a hidden ability; a rare ability a pokemon species could possibly have."

I nodded, remembering the concept of hidden abilities from trainer school.

"There's a pack of Poochyena here led by a Mightyena. I'm the only one with a hidden ability... so my whole life, I've been left out and made fun of."

My expression hardened. "Then we'll arrange for you to take out that Mightyena in front of the whole pack. Then they'll respect you, and you can leave with us with pride. Deal?"

"Are you sure!" Arice exclaimed. "A Mightyena! The leader of a pack of wild pokemon! we can't do that ourselves!"

I looked at Arice. "If it's alright with you guys... I would like if all four of us travelled together to wipe out the pack, and we could arrange a one on one, Grime versus the Mightyena, at the end."

"That's fine! A challenge! I like it!" Arice said, pumping her fists. Mudtwo started cheering as well, while the Gothita stayed quiet. It hadn't said a word ever since I had first seen it.

"My lord, I can't take on a Mightyena right now! I'm not strong enough!" Grime protested.

I shook my head. "You're training under me! I'll make you strong enough! Even if your attack power, speed, size, and moves are inferior, together we can find a nice strategy!"

Our group of humans and pokemon continued to debate the matter for the rest of the day. We seemed to have passed the Poochyena pack, as there were fewer and fewer Poochyena, and more and more of other species. Then, three more days passed. We trained hard, and I managed to make Montone interested in battle after starting a contest; whoever fainted more pokemon wins. Of course, it only took a few hours for my two pokemon to start fighting each other, so I had to call of the contest.

* * *

We reached Petalburg City. We still had materials to spare, so we weren't in a dire need to reach the city... except for the fact that seeing civilization was so relieving. Living in the wild sucked.

But it wasn't just any civilization. It was a city. Something I had only seen in television. Although far from being a big city, it was still probably 10 times the size of Littleroot Town and Oldale Town combined.

Arice and I returned our pokemon and rushed to the pokemon center., which was five floors high. We still had four pokemon between us, which we gave to the nurse.

"You guys look you haven't bathed in ages! Quickly, show me your licenses and I can assign you rooms. There are only two that are unbooked!"

Arice and I went to our rooms; I was grateful I didn't have to sleep in the same room. I would finally get my own room! I opened the door.

And low and behold, there were two teenagers playing cards on my bed.

My face reddened. "Tyson! Kyra! What are you doing here!"

Kyra shrugged. "It's dusk. Too dark to train, so we decided to stay indoors."

I facepalmed. "Get a legal room! Honestly!"

They didn't respond, so I walked in and set out my things. "You guys were able to make it here, huh? Nice."

"We were," Tyson said. His phone beeped, so he checked it. "Arice texted me. She says she's coming."

I gaped. "She knows you're here?"

Kyra smiled. "She must've taken the other unbooked room, found it empty, and realized we were in this one. Simple."

"Of course," I groaned.

Arice came into the room with some cup noodles, which we all ate together on the bed. She also handed out the pokemon translators, and after that, we all told each other what had happened. Apparently Tyson, who had all of our group's revives, had managed to make it through the route with only one pokemon. Kyra, who had most of our group's potions, made it to Petalburg City through similar circumstances. Neither had caught a pokemon on the route, however.

When it was my turn to talk about what I had done alone, I said the Masquerain flew off after Monotone fainted. Neither of my pokemon had known what had truly happened, so I was going to keep the silver fang a secret. I still kept it with me, since I wanted to make sure no one would ever find out about its power.

"Wow, that's harsh," Tyson observed. "Well, you certainly had it rough."

"Yes. Also, I have a request; can you spare tomorrow for taking care of a Poochyena pack? There's apparently a Mightyena as the leader, who I want my Poochyena to defeat in a one on one."

"I assume you have a strategy?" Kyra asked.

I nodded. "So is it possible? Tyson, your Gastly would get practice fighting a type it's weak against. You too, Kyra. Dark types _are_ the bane of Psychic types, after all."

They agreed to go with me, and I grinned. "Thanks!"

After that, we decided Arice would be sleeping in my room, while Tyson and Kyra would be taking the other room, which was three floors above mine.

"Well, I'll go ahead and kick the bucket. See you tomorrow morning!" Arice chirped.

"Doesn't kick the bucket mean dying?" I muttered as Arice tucked herself under the bedsheets. The room was pretty much the same style as the one in Oldale.

I got up from my chair and decided to walk out of the room to check out the pokemon center. After all, it was much bigger than the two I've seen, and must've had a bunch of amenities.

I walked down the stairs to the first room, where I saw a door with the label 'Pool'. I shrugged and decided to check it out. I had never seen an actual pool before, so curiosity drew me in.

What was inside was chaos.

It was an enormous room, the ceiling reaching up around three floors. Voices echoed all around the walls and water; there were _many_ people there. And the pools were huge. There were even special types of pools, like a hot tub. I even noticed one large, circular pool with only water pokemon in it.

I started drooling. Such fun! City people really had it nice. And as a pokemon trainer, I could enjoy too!

"Hey kid." A voice from behind me said. I turned around. It was the girl with the pink ribbon, wearing swimming gear. I gaped, surprised to see her.

"Whoa! You're disgusting, openly staring like that!"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Teenage boys. Honestly disgusting."

Then I realized what she was talking about, and blushed. I explained to her I had never seen a pool before, so I was staring at the pool, not the people in the pool.

"Oh fine. As long as you don't do it again. So, was I imagining it, or were you the boy who got attacked by that creepy old dude?"

"You remembered me? I have to thank you for that. And that Gallade of yours."

"You're welcome. Sorry I had to teleport you to Oldale Town. Pokemon can only teleport to places they've been, and my Gallade has never been to Petalburg City."

"It's fine. I actually caught a Poochyena..." I started saying, before remembering the silver fang. "So why did you want to see Buzzing Pond?"

The girl's eyes lit up. "You know where it is? You see, my Garchomp tore out his silver tooth. You know, the vestigial tooth Garchomp have? Made of pure silver? It was in that pond. I just wanted to retrieve it to get some cash."

Well. "Oh. I haven't seen the pond, actually. But is that all the fang - I mean, the tooth - has to it? It's made of pure silver?"

"Yes? What else would it 'have to it'?"

I shrugged. The girl shrugged too, and we settled into an uncomfortable silence. "My name is Kendra, by the way. I'm 17. I gave up on Buzzing Pond, though, so don't worry about it."

I looked at her and nodded. A few seconds later, I remembered that whenever someone introduced themselves to someone else, they expected that person to introduce themselves as well.

I cleared my throat. "My name is-"

' _I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST, THAT NO ONE EVE-'_ Kendra's phone rang. She picked it up quickly and blushed. It was the hit song that had released a few weeks ago, sung by Ash Ketchum. Ash used to be a favorite to take to the title of champion ever since he started training, but because he kept on switching pokemon like an idiot, he never even became an ace trainer. Now, he was more popular and successful as an internationally-known singer.

"Hello?" Kendra said to the phone. I decided to go back to my room. After finding out the silver fang was actually just a Garchomp tooth, I wasn't so sure it was the fang that was special. Maybe the Masquerain never actually died, and I was just hallucinating? Maybe the Masquerain had a bloody disease or something? It wasn't like I had on a swimsuit or anything, so staying in that room wasn't useful anyways.

As I walked out, I noticed another door labeled 'library'. I shrugged, and walked in.

It was another large room. It was unlike anything I had seen; although it was only a single story high, there were more than 20 books! I had never seen a library like that before.

"Screw you!"

"No, screw you!"

I looked to my left to see two boys my age staring at each other with pudgy, red faces. They appeared to be twins.

"Z-moves are way cooler!" one yelled.

"No! Mega evolution is waaay cooler!" the other yelled.

I sighed, walking in the opposite direction. It appeared unaware numbskulls could be found in the city as well.

"Hey kid!" One of them yelled.

I quickened my pace without looking backwards.

"Hey! I'll give you a free mega stone if you agree with me that mega evolution is better than Z-power!"

I stopped walking, and I turned around, interested.

"Hey! Not fair!" The other one pouted. "I'll give you a Z-crystal if you agree with me!"

I smiled. Looks like I could profit from these buffoons after all.

"HAH! JUST KIDDING! FOOLED YOU, IDIOT!" They yelled in unison.

I sighed, and decided to return to my room. After all, the next day would be difficult, and I would need to sleep a lot if I wanted enough energy.

As I walked out of the room, I noticed another door labelled 'training area'. I felt compelled to open it, but I guessed I would probably run into someone who would compel me to walk out only a few minutes later.

As I stood still, thinking about what I should do, one of the pudgy twins came out of the library, his baggy clothes rustling.

"Sorry about that. Hope your baby-waby feelings aren't hurt..."

I glared at him. "Are you a trainer? What's your age?"

"I'm 13 years old, and a proud trainer. What about it?"

I smiled. "Let's battle. Now. I'm 13 years old as well. The loser kisses the feet of the winner."

The pudgy boy showed his middle finger to me. "&*%^ you. I accept, but the loser has to _lick_ the feet of the winner. Deal?"

I smiled, trying to look confident, but I wasn't so sure. Losing would sure suck...

"Actually, one more condition; the licking has to happen in front of everyone in the pokemon center lobby. Deal?"

I paled. Even though it was early night time, the pokemon center lobby was still full of commotion. Then I remembered how this boy had insulted me, and my expression hardened. "Two on two, single battle?"

"Two on two, single battle. Follow me, loser." The pudgy boy walked purposefully to another door down the hall, labelled 'fighting area'. We both walked in.

My jaw dropped. It was an actual pokemon battle area! Proper size; 50 meters by 20 meters. Edged by a 5 meter wide pool of water. A circle and a line going through the center, written in with chalk. The only thing missing were the thousands of seats that would surround the battlefield in a Pokemon League challenge match.

The boy walked to the opposite side of the field, and took one ball in his hands. I decided to use my starter first. Since my plan was to win, that meant my second pokemon would be the last one standing. Giving Grime that sort of chance would be great for bolstering her confidence.

We both threw our pokeballs in unison. Out came a Poipole from my side. On his side... out came a Metagross. It mega evolved a second later.

"META!" It shouted as I peed my pants.

* * *

Chapter 9 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Arice's Mudkip is revealed to have the nickname of 'Mudtwo'.

Note: Kendra and the pudgy boys won't be main characters.


	10. Abductors and Followers

Ray woke up with a gasp. His hands were tied to the armrests of the wooden chair he was sitting on. His legs were bound to the two front chair legs. He was in a large cube-shaped room, with sides made of gray stone and a single lantern hanging on the ceiling. There wasn't any door, any window... no sign of some sort of way in and out of the room. Ray was thankful that at least his Carvanha's pokeball was clipped to his belt.

' _Hello_ ,' A high-pitched voice said inside Ray's mind. Ray twisted his neck around furiously to find out where the voice had come from. To his left, a Mismagius floated through the stone, a wide grin on its face. The lantern swayed slightly, casting eerie shadows of the Ghost pokemon on the walls and floor.

"What do you want from me!" Ray yelled, struggling against his bonds.

' _You are a shifter. It is obvious what we want from you_.'

"No it isn't! What even is a shifter!"

' _A shifter is someone originally born on this planet with the ability to survive in the Ultra Planet's atmosphere.'_

Ray laughed. "What? How?"

' _It is from a recessive and rare gene. Shifters react strangely to the presence of Ultra Wormholes near them. For example, you teleported from an area near Littleroot Town in Hoenn... to Castelia City in Unova._ '

"What in the name of... Castelia City? The largest city in the world? I don't understand..."

' _Do not worry about your well being. You are currently under the protection of Ratem himself._ '

Ray stopped jerking around, and sat still. "Ratem? Who? And how long has it been?"

' _So many questions. Well, it's fine. You've been out cold for around ten days, because of your unhealthy interaction with the Ultra Wormhole. We've been studying your body in that time. For example, we've found out you don't actually_ need _to breath._ '

Ray raised an eyebrow, then remembered he was inside a room without air ventilation. "So what do you want with me?"

The Mismagius floated closer to Ray. ' _Sightings of invaders from the Ultra Planet are coming in more and more often, all around the world. We can only assume that Necrozma is preparing to destroy our world. Or something. Shifters like you who can survive on their planet are necessary for fighting against them._ '

"I feel insane for believing that... but what do you want me to start doing now?"

' _Ratem will make you his apprentice and train you to become a powerful trainer. we need you to become strong to fight Necrozma, after all._ '

Ray frowned in thought. "Are there other Shifters?"

'Y _es_. _Ratem is collecting them. They are all his apprentices._ '

"So who _is_ this Ratem?"

' _You actually don't know? He's a famous member of the elite four. Oh wait, I understand. The public knows him as Blue. His real name is actually Ratem_.'

Ray glanced at the Mismagius incredulously. "Well."

* * *

"Are you sure you're 13?!" I yelled to my opponent on the other side of the field. He was smirking.

"Yes! Of course!" The boy sneered.

I peed my pants even more. It wasn't like I could just call off the match though. I had already accepted the conditions.

I looked at my starter, who still had that blank face. "Well... evasive action!" I commanded. Evasive action was basically staying on the defensive, using Growl a lot and occasionally throwing in an attack if possible. It seemed like the best strategy to use against a fully evolved mega pokemon.

The pudgy faced boy reddened. "Aren't you going to give up?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you would rather crush my pokemon than let me give up?"

The boy reddened even more, until his face looked like a flabby tomato. "I'm actually a nice person! I'll let you give up!"

I knew something was off about this kid. "Monotone! Moves #2 and #3! Switch to offensive!" I had switched out Helping Hand for Fury Attack, a move my Poipole had been able to learn earlier in the route.

The boy gulped, and I wasn't sure why. My starter zipped through the air and started using Fury Attack. The opposing Mega Metagross just floated there, but as Monotone drew near, the pokemon dodged to the left at lightning speed.

The boy grinned. "Yes! YES! Now, Bullet Punch!"

The Mega Metagross did not such thing. Instead, it reverted back to normal Metagross form, and it feel asleep on the ground.

My jaw dropped. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on, as my Poipole simply stared at its opponent.

"It doesn't listen to you!"

The pudgy boy started crying. "It's a pokemon my parents gave me! I thought it would make me powerful, but it doesn't listen to me..."

I smiled. "That's why you raise the pokemon yourself, idiot. Now, since you've given up, you're gonna have to pay up."

The boy started crying even more. "F-Fine. * _sniffle_ *. Let's go." We returned our pokemon after I thanked Monotone for doing a good job. He hadn't responded to that.

I waited for the boy to take the lead, as I wasn't sure how to get back to lobby. He walked slowly, rubbing his eyes the whole way. I followed him, and we reached the lobby. To be honest, I didn't like the concept of someone licking my feet, but I did want to teach the stuck-up brat a lesson.

He licked my right shoe for a few seconds second in the middle of the lobby room, then ran away crying.

"Did you win a battle?" A strong voice asked from behind me.

I turned around and saw Tyson. He was holding in his left hand a shot glass with water in it. He followed my gaze. "They ran out of plastic cups, and I was really thirsty, so I went to the bar to find something. Man, I wish I could unsee of the stuff going on in there..."

I smiled. "To answer your question, yes, I won a battle... kind of."

Tyson laughed. "It's funny how you're always unlucky. You just made one of the sons of the Petalburg city gym leader quite unhappy."

I raised an eyebrow. "That kid was..."

Tyson nodded. "Well, we aren't challenging the gym, so it's fine, I guess. But no matter what the case is, make it a point to avoid rich snobs at all costs."

I frowned. "It's not like I'm the one who picked the fight."

Tyson smirked and patted my back. "And you should probably change your underwear and pants.."

I looked down and reddened. I realized everyone in the lobby had been looking at me and laughing, and I quickly ran up the stairs to get changed.

* * *

The next morning, our group of four set out along with our six total pokemon and with whatever supplies we still had with us. Little did we know at the time that there were four other humans following us, yet all for different reasons.

As we entered the route, I felt the grass, and smiled. "Ah. Back to this lovely route."

"Humans, I want to that you for doing this much for me. It really means a lot to me."

"Humans only? What about pokemon?" Gastonio cackled, floating in and out of everyone's shadow.

"Bloodless spectre! You dare to imagine I would ever praise you!"

"Trainer, Grime out control again."

I sighed. As usual, it were my pokemon that were causing the ruckus. "Monotone, you really need to work on your grammar."

"Trainer, I speak like this only to trigger all you. Heh heh."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "You little rascal... I thought you would at least be calm and composed!"

"Not I intend to stop. I continue this type speech as long I live."

"Yep. Of course."

We continued onwards, and it actually wasn't that hard to speed through the route. After all, with the cloud cover, the absence of a need to worry about our pokemon (which were strong enough to one hit faint most wild pokemon), and a noble purpose in mind (well, at least in my mind; most of the people in the group had only agreed because it would be good training), our energy and spirits were higher than ever.

It only took around four-ish hours to start seeing the increase in wild Poochyena.

"Wow. We covered so much terrain... it took Arice and I, like, three days to cover this much distance..."

"It would've taken Abby and I only around a day to cover this much distance. I guess we had it easier? You must've had to take a harder pathway; we walked on a completely different one," Kyra said. Apparently she had nicknamed her starter 'Abby'.

"So what should we be doing?" Tyson asked as Gastonio narrowly dodged a surprise Bite from a wild Poochyena.

I shrugged. "I guess we have to find the Mightyena, fainting whatever pokemon stands in our way. Oh crap... that means walking through the tall grass..."

"Why didn't anyone think of that before?" Gastonio said.

"Shut it, gaseous creep! And everyone, don't worry. My sense of smell can detect any pokemon in a wide radius around me."

Tyson rubbed the back of his neck. "Putting my trust into someone else isn't something I can really do..."

I tried to think of something that would work out, considering what Tyson said. Then an idea popped in my head. "Yes! How about we bait the Mightyena!"

Kyra glanced at me sideways. "And how exactly do we do that?"

"We take out cup noodles everywhere we go. As we keep fainting the wild Poochyena who come for it, their leader will eventually arrive."

"Sounds like a plan!" Arice said cheerfully.

And that's what we went with.

* * *

Kendra was following the group of four kids, and behind the tall grass, she observed them opening a lot of cup noodles. The reason she was following them was because of that boy with the Poipole who had paled whenever Buzzing Pond was mentioned. She had assumed he had found her Garchomp's fang and stolen it. However, she didn't want to seem like she didn't trust him, in case she was wrong, so she was going to find out covertly.

But she hadn't thought through how. As she was shuffling in the grass to get a good look at the boy, she touched something moist, squishy, and hot. It was a pudgy boy, but his features were hard to make out in the grass.

Kendra stifled a scream as the boy noticed her and reddened. "Who are you?!" Kendra whispered.

"The real questions is who are you!" The boy whispered back.

"I'm following these kids for personal reasons! And you?"

"Well... same! Ok!"

The two settled into quiet, and after a few seconds, the boy silently shifted in the grass to increase the distance between himself and Kendra.

 _Wait... wasn't that a son of the gym leader?_ Kendra shrugged, and continued investigating the group, who were now trying to stop a battle between the Poipole and a Poochyena.

* * *

Reek was following Kendra in order to get back his pokemon. He was wearing one of his many white coats, and had brought with him a laser gun; one of the high-tech weapons from the Ultra Planet only the government workers could legally possess. Reek was one such worker.

 _What is that girl doing, spying on someone? I have to take a look_.

Reek got closer, and found the four children from earlier... including the boy with the Poipole. Reek salivated. _They are all in one place! I just have to shoot down the humans, nab the pokemon I need, and go back home!_

But Reek heard something else in the grass, too big to be a pokemon from this area. Reek quietly moved around the grass to get closer, and made out a large black shirt. _Another_ human. It seemed like an overly wide boy in his early teens.

Reek thought about shooting the boy, but if he did, it would cause a large commotion, as the laser gun made a loud noise when emitting each shot. So instead, he decided to shot the four in the main group in quick succession, then immediately shoot the girl with the powerful pokemon. The wide boy would only be attacked if he interfered.

Nodding, Reek spent a dozen more minutes silently getting into place. The group of kids were fighting off a few wild Poochyena. That was distracting them and their pokemon. _Good._

Reek aimed his laser gun at the boy with the Poipole. It was a three foot long beauty, with a shiny black exterior and an aiming scope. The only way to charge it was by presenting the gun before Necrozma, and grovelling before the legendary for a refill. The gun could hold a million shots, however, so it wasn't often that refills had to happen.

"And fire!" Reek said, his finger closing in on the trigger. However, a large, sturdy hand appeared from the tall grass Reek was hiding in and smacked the gun out of Reek's hands.

Reek stared in shock at his gun as it emitted a laser at the ground with a loud * **Bang** *. Reek was then lifted by the collar and thrown on the pathway in front of him. Out came the man who had foiled Reek's plans.

Norman, the gym leader of Petalburg City. "I try to find out what my son is doing in his free time, and instead I find some sort of sci-fi creepo murderer."

* * *

Chapter 10 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Blue's real name revealed to be 'Ratem'.

Kyra's Abra revealed to be nicknamed 'Abby'.


	11. A Night in Unova

AN: If the first part of this chapter is a bit confusing, just know that over time, you will come to understand everything.

* * *

I looked at Norman. Then I looked at the old white coat guy. Arice, Kyra, and Tyson had noticed them as well.

"I'm confused," Tyson said, voicing all our thoughts.

Norman released a Slaking and told it to keep watch over the 'sci-fi creepo'. Then Norman walked over to us.

"Well hello there, young trainers."

"OHMYGOSH it's Norman!" Arice screamed.

Norman smiled. "Yes. It is."

We settled into silence after that.

Then I said, "so... what is going on? Someone please explain that to me."

Norman sighed. "You see, your group of trainers has attracted quite a few followers. My son, Gimp, was following you guys for some reason. I just felt like following too, just to know what he intended to do."

"And instead you found this man, with that... gun... and stopped him," Kyra said slowly.

Norman nodded. "Your welcome by the way. I also have to thank you for this opportunity. That man has a laser gun, a weapon used only by those high up in the food chain over in the Ultra Planet. I now have to chance to look cool in front of the Pokemon League by having captured an alien."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm still confused. Why is your son following us?"

"Because," a voice said. We all turned around and saw the pudgy son of the gym leader, named Gimp, walk out of the grass. "Because you humiliated me, and I was curious as to what kinds of things you did."

"That's weird," I said, unable to think of another response.

Norman laughed. "I also sensed another follower. I don't know who that person is, though. Hopefully not another killer."

And on cue, out came the girl with the pink ribbon; Kendra. She dusted off her yellow dress, and smiled at us. "Hello."

And the seven of us humans sat down and discussed everything that was going on. We talked about why our group of four were in the route, why Kendra was following us (I had lied and said I'd never seen Buzzing Pond), and everything else on the matter.

Norman nodded and got up. "I'll be off, then. Gimp, you're coming with me." Norman and Gimp walked off, with Norman's Slaking carrying Reek's unconscience body and the laser gun.

"Sorry for not trusting you. I'll take my lea- Oh wait!" Kendra said. "You said you were after the Mightyena here, right? I've heard reports that a Mightyena from this route has ran off into the Petalburg Woods."

"Really?" Grime asked, wide-eyed.

Kendra nodded. Apparently she too had a pokemon translator. "Yes, unfortunately. If you have decided to go to Unova, though, I can actually help you with that."

Kyra got up. "Please tell us." Kyra looked at me. "Sorry, but we don't need to chase after the Mightyena."

I sighed again. This was all happening really fast. I looked at Grime, and she nodded, as if okay with us going off to Unova. "That makes sense."

Kendra released her Gallade, and whispered something to it. Then she turned to us. "This here is a Gallade which can teleport you all to Accumula Town. It's the one place in Unova he has been to. It is directly south of Straiton City, not too far off. Wanna go?"

My eyes widened. "Teleportation!" I looked at the rest of my group. "It is fine, right?"

The all seemed alright with it. Arice was jumping up and down.

Kendra then smirked. "However, I would like to make a small request."

We all instantly frowned.

Kendra shook her head. "No no! It is actually beneficial for you! I would recommend you all, when you get the chance, visit the Dreamyard near Striaton City. There are some pretty interesting and unique pokemon there.

"Sounds like a deal," Tyson said. "When do we teleport?"

Kendra clapped her hands. "Now."

Tyson, Kyra, Arice, and their pokemon didn't teleport.

Kendra frowned. "You three... I can't allow you to go with that boy."

Tyson narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"You three are the siblings that tortured 16 children 5 years ago in Oldale Town. I remember seeing the news back then. It really struck me to the core. That's why I remember it."

Tears welled up in Arice's eyes. "That wasn't our fault! They always made fun of us for our unnatural hair and eye colors!"

Kendra turned around and walked away. "I'm sorry, you three. But that boy is innocent, and I don't want to risk his life by letting him stay with you."

* * *

One second, I was standing in the route between Petalburg City and Oldale Town. It had been the middle of the day.

The next second, I was sitting on a wooden park bench in the middle of the night.

I looked around at me. It was a park full of autumn trees, with a cool breeze stirring fallen leaves. There was a Poipole, and Poochyena, and a Gallade, all in front of me.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked, concerned. I looked at the Gallade, who was avoiding my gaze.

' _I understand you were hoping to stay friends with those three kids. My trainer has told me to teleport just you, however._ '

I scratched my head. "Is this a joke?"

The Gallade shook its head. ' _Unfortunately, no. My trainer said they were dangerous people, and that you would be better off travelling with just your pokemon._ '

I gaped. "But... but... She can't just decide that for me..."

"Hey big guy, that's pretty mean. Heed my lord's words, or I will destroy you right here," Grime growled.

The Gallade almost had a sad look on its face - no, it seemed more like a nostalgic look.

'I fully believe my trainer wishes only the best for all of you,' the Gallade said in our minds before vanishing.

I looked at Grime, then Monotone. "Well."

"Trainer, what we do now?"

I buried my face in my hands. "I will heed Kendra's words. I won't travel with other humans. They only cause pain."

"Trainer, what we do now?"

I looked at Monotone. "We will still go after Ray. I have no idea what's going on with Kyra, Tyson, and Arice, but if I just forget about them, my headache gets reduced. Our path is clear. We travel up to Castelia City, find Ray, and decide what to do from there. Deal?"

My two pokemon nodded.

"What do we do now, then, my lord?"

"Find the pokemon center and sleep there? I still have my license, and those are internationally acceptable, so... yeah."

And that was the plan. I returned my two pokemon to their pokeballs, and walked off in a random direction, hoping that the town actually had a pokemon center somewhere.

A few minutes into my walk, I reached the residential area, where quaint little houses were clumped together. A few street lights lit the area. As I was walking around the front yard of a house, I noticed movement in my peripheral vision. I whipped my head to the side, and saw a bandit, who seemingly hadn't yet noticed me, trying to climb the wall of the house. I turned around and walked towards the bandit, curious.

I looked at the house's roof, which seemed to be the target of the bandit. There was a chimney there.

"Hey dude!" I yelled. The bandit, a man in his forties, fell down from his position and grunted loudly as he hit the rose bushes below him.

I release Grime. I knew Poochyena had good night vision and sense of smell, so Grime should've been more capable than Monotone in the dark.

The bandit rose slowly, his face contorted and bleeding. It was hard to make out his features in the dim light.

"Oh, it's just a kid," The bandit said. Then he smirked. "That's a nice Poochyena. How about we do a little trading?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Trading?"

"Yeah. I got a Slowpoke that you might really _love_. You want it?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to trade away my Poochyena. Neither do I want to do any trading with a bandit like you."

The man blushed. "Oh sorry, you thought I'm a bandit? No, this is my house. I was just trying to clean the chimney up at the roof." He showed me a dirty red rag in his right hand.

I frowned. "I find it hard to believe you would try cleaning your chimney in the middle of the night."

The man blushed harder. "Sorry, my wife told me to do it before sunrise, and I completely forgot about it until now..."

I crossed my arms. "Tell me which room that chimney leads to."

The bandit looked at the ground. "Eh... it leads to our family room. We have couches and stuff there."

I smirked. "It actually leads to the bedroom," I bluffed. I found myself enjoying this conversation; but I was still ready to bolt if he made any move towards me.

"Eh... well..." The bandit stuttered. "Fine! I'm a bandit!"

I raised an eyebrow. That had been easy. "Give me everything in that brown satchel of yours, and I won't tell anyone."

The bandit, surprisingly, complied. I wondered if all Unovan criminals were that stupid and weak-willed. He threw the satchel at me with his powerful arms, and I caught it. I looked inside to find a pokeball, among other items.

"Look, I have a family, and I don't want anyone knowing I tried stealing. You can take that pokemon. I caught it yesterday, actually, at the shore to the east."

I looked at the bandit. "You're giving me a pokemon?"

"Anything to make sure you won't speak."

"What kind of pokemon is it?"

"A Slowpoke."

I laughed. "One of those weaklings? Why would I want it?"

The man shrugged. "You can give it back to me if you want."

I was about to throw the ball back to him before I realized what I was doing. I was judging a pokemon based on its species. I had used to think Poochyena was too common to be of any use, but now, I love Grime. Maybe I could utilize a Slowpoke.

"I'll keep it. But to make sure you don't steal again, I'll leave a good amount of money for you right where I'm standing," I said. I took out a wad of bills Arice had given me and kept them on the ground next to my feet.

"I can't accept that! What I gave you isn't nearly worth that!"

"Well," I said, "you said you had a family. I'd be happy if helping them could give me karma, which might pay off down the road."

The man bowed down to me. "Thank you very much sir. Can you tell me your name, so I may treasure it?"

I raised an eyebrow. Money really did change people. I told him my name, returned Grime, and walked off with his bag. Then I turned around, noticing him pick up the money. "Hey dude," I said. "Can you also tell me where the pokemon center is?"

He pointed me in the right direction, and after around ten minutes, I reached the pokemon center. It was largely the same as the one at Littleroot Town. However, it was slightly bigger; in the Unova region, pokemon centers included shops as well.

I walked inside the lobby, and the nurse greeted me. "You seem like aren't from this region!" The woman said.

I nodded as I gave her my three pokemon and showed my license. "Could you check the pokemon in this pokeball and tell me its stats, please?"

She smiled and took the three balls, not commenting on how one of them was a Beast Ball. I sat down on a nearby chair as I waited. There was one other person in the lobby; a pale kid who seemingly was also waiting for his pokemon.

I moved to sit down next to him, deciding to strike conversation. "Hi," I said.

He looked at me. He had black hair that stuck up at the back and large, round glasses. There was also a lightning scar on his forehead. "Hi," he said. He seemed to be shaking with nervousness.

I was unsure of how to move the conversation forward. So I said, "What are you doing here so late?"

The boy looked at the ground, still shaking. "I was attacked just an hour ago... I only had two pokemon, I started my journey just two weeks ago... but my starter was stolen."

I gaped. "STOLEN! By who? What kind of pokemon was it?"

The boy looked at me. "It was a Slowpoke. It was stolen in the middle of the night, so I didn't see who took it."

I sighed. Of course it was. Then I remembered that I had asked the nurse to tell me the Slowpoke's stats. If that boy heard it...

I noticed the nurse wack out of the back room with a Great Ball in her hand. "Harry's Diglett! I have it here!"

The boy got up and took the Great Ball. He muttered a thanks to the nurse, and thankfully, he left the pokemon center. I stretched my arms and sighed in relief.

"The Poipole, Poochyena, and Slowpoke are ready!" The nurse yelled across the room a minute later. I looked around to see if Harry was in earshot. He wasn't. I went up the nurse and took back my healed pokemon.

"This male Slowpoke knows Yawn, Tackle, Growl, and Water Gun. It has the ability Own Tempo, so it won't ever get Confused," The nurse told me.

"Thanks," I said. I decided to make up an excuse for asking her. "I caught it around an hour ago near my house."

The nurse raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Oh yes! Can I also have a room?"

The nurse nodded and typed something into her digital monitor. She took my license and digitally registered it to room 223.

I thanked her again and walked up the stairs. I walked down the hallway, looking for room 223. I knew jet lag would be a problem, so I decided to start sleeping the night after the one I was in.

I found the room, and swiped its lock with my trainer's license. It beeped open, and I walked in. I would finally get my own pokemon center room!

And there on the bed, was... no one. Actually. I closed the door behind me and jumped on the bed, cheering. It was all mine! The next thing to do would be to welcome my third pokemon. Which for some reason, I already wanted to keep, no matter what, even if it was someone else's. I wasn't the one who stole it, right?

* * *

Steven Stone, the Prime Minister of Hoenn and a collector of stones and fossils, was happy. He was sitting in his office in Ever Grande City, with Norman standing before him. Norman had with him an unconscience old man with a white coat and a laser gun.

Steven got up from his chair. "I would like to personally look over this alien. And you say he hadn't brought any pokemon with him?"

Norman nodded.

"Good. I will send the laser gun to the Pokemon League scientists. If the Ultra Planet had indeed decided to attack our planet again, then if we can mass produce laser guns of our own, we stand a fighting chance."

* * *

AN: And now our viewpoint character has reached Unova! Yes, his third pokemon is a Slowpoke. SingingDarkrai requested eight different pokemon for the viewpoint character to have, and I chose one out that list; Slowpoke. You'll see why in the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 11 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Viewpoint Character gets a Slowpoke

Reek doesn't have possession of any pokemon anymore


	12. Slowpoke

I was in my hotel room, with Monotone and Grime released. I had told them everything that happened, and we were ready to greet the new member of our family.

I threw the pokeball of my Slowpoke, and out it came. It was sleeping. I walked closer to it. I thought back to what I had researched on Slowpoke when I was younger. They were known for notoriously dim intellect and a crappy response time. They usually didn't like doing anything, so they weren't advisable for battling with. Well. I was going to ignore that and see if something could work out.

"My lord, should we wake him up?" Grime asked.

I shrugged. "Sure... I guess."

Monotone floated over to the Slowpoke and pressed its mouth to the pink pokemon's ear. Then it used Growl.

I winced. "Monotone!"

"Trainer, I did you said. I woke it up."

I looked at the Slowpoke. Actually, it hadn't woken up. It was still sleeping.

"My lord... is this something to be concerned about? Even the alien pest's annoying voice couldn't wake it up."

"Trainer, he evil."

"Monotone, Grime is a she. And as for the Slowpo-" I started, but I stopped speaking when I noticed the Slowpoke jolt awake, as if it had just heard a loud noise. Slow reaction time indeed. At least it wasn't dead.

"Hi!" I said, trying my best to smile. I wanted to be strong! With a pokemon like this... would that really be possible?

The pink pokemon turned its head in my direction. "Hi?" It said in a blubbery voice. Its eyes were vacant and didn't seem like they were focused on anything.

"I'm a trainer, and you're my third pokemon!" I said in a fake cheerful voice. My other two pokemon got closer and observed the Slowpoke.

"No," the Slowpoke said in its blubbery voice, then it fell asleep again.

"Trainer, I scared."

"My lord, this blubberbutt doesn't deserve to be on this team. The alien pest... at least he pulls his weight. This blubberbutt doesn't stand a chance."

I frowned. "I don't know about that! I mean, I want to give it a chance... when it said 'no', did it mean it didn't want to be my pokemon?"

Monotone nodded. "That make sense."

"But... Aagh! Alright guys, I've got a plan. I will spend the next day working on this pokemon in the wild. You two can train there. If the Slowpoke fails, I will give him back to the trainer who originally caught him. If he succeeds in earning my appreciation, he _will_ be accepted as the third pokemon of the team. Deal?"

"As you wish, my lord."

Monotone nodded.

I smiled. "Then for now, we let this pokemon sleep, and the rest of us can watch television until dawn."

My two pokemon agreed, and I clicked the on button on the remote. The fat television's screen flickered to life, set to the 'welcome to Accumula Town' screen. I picked up the screen guide and sat on the bed, where I stroked the head of Grime who was laying down next to me. Monotone was floating above the bed on the other side of me.

"Let's see... Pokemon League channel... there it is!" I switched to the Pokemon League channel.

The screen displayed a bird's eye view of a snowy field with trees. There was a reporter speaking quickly, talking about Red chasing a dangerous wild Mega Abomasnow near Snowpoint City.

It was live: Red had his Pikachu out, and was co-ordinating with it to defeat a Mega Abomasnow. His Pikachu unleashed a massive Thunderbolt that dealt the finishing blow right in front of my eyes.

"He's done it! The champion smoothly tracks down and defeats another monstrous wild pokemon!" The reporter says. Apparently the reporter was sitting on a helicopter that was flying above the scene. "We will now fly down and ask Red some questions!"

I eagerly watched as the camera got closer and closer to Red, until the cameraman was in position on the ground, and the reporter was on-screen. He was a thirty-ish year old man with a fancy brown mustache and styled hair. Standing next to him was Red. The Red. the champion Red.

I found myself drooling as the reporter asked his first question to Red. "What is your next job going to be?" the reporter asked.

Red wiped away some sweat from his forehead and said, "There are rumors of a powerful gang of criminals in Castelia City. Apparently they are led by someone influential here in the Pokemon League. Considering that, finding out everything about the gang will definitely be what I'll spend my time on."

I grinned. Red would be coming to Castelia City! I might be able to see him! However, if there really was a dangerous criminal gang in Castelia City, I had to hope Ray would be safe. I would need to be careful as well.

I turned off the television and laid down on my bed above the bed sheets. I stared at the ceiling. It was peaceful and quiet. Something I had really needed in a long time.

"My lord, might we one day go on those rectangular surfaces?"

I craned my head to look at Grime. "Of course! becoming champion wasn't my goal, but as a result of my wanting to be the strongest I can, I imagine we would inevitably become the champion team at some point."

"And I would be strongest on team," Monotone said.

I sighed, anticipating a snarky response from Grime. None came. I looked back at Grime to see her hop off the bed and start sniffing the Slowpoke sleeping on the ground.

"Trainer, he evi-"

"MONOTONE! Grime is a she!"

"Trainer, she evil. I afraid what he might do to that pokemon."

I didn't respond. Instead, I watched Grime sniff around.

"He will be worthy!" Grime declared. Then she hopped up onto the wooden table, curled up, and slept.

"Trainer, I would like be returned now."

I nodded and returned Monotone to his Beast Ball. Jet lag really was messing up my system, and I imagined that it would be the same for my pokemon.

I decided to plan out my future, try solving some of the mysteries... and basically sort out my life. The hours I spent in that room really cleared my head and helped me understand what was important and what wasn't. For example, the silver fang would forever stay on my body, and was only to be used if I was about to die. Those were hours I needed more than anything.

* * *

Dawn came, and I woke up Grime after eating breakfast. I released Monotone, then let him use Growl in the Slowpoke's ears.

Around half a minute later, the Slowpoke woke up. I lowered my head until it was almost touching the ground, and I stared the Slowpoke in its vacant eyes. "You _will_ follow me. Is that understood? I have decided that I will openly treat you, and my other pokemon, as a parent. As my child, you _will_ listen to me," I said, asserting control. I was proud of my strong tone. It was something I had actually worked on during my life-sort-out night.

"No," he said in his blubbery voice. The Slowpoke was about to close his eyes, but I yelled, "HEY!"

The Slowpoke actually responded to that within just a second, and stared at me with lidded eyes.

"Tell me. Do you want to train with me and become strong? Or do you want to waste away your life sleeping and-and... doing nothing!" I spat. If he said 'no' again, he would've failed, and I would give him back to his original trainer immediately.

He didn't say no. But he didn't say yes, either. He just closed his eyes.

"My lord, I will use Bite on him if you wa-"

"No, Grime. I have another idea." I told my two pokemon to stay in the room, and I walked down to the first floor of the pokemon center. Looking out the windows, it was strange to see autumn colors. It had been spring back in Hoenn.

I walked up to the nurse, who was typing away at her monitor. No one else was in the lobby.

I coughed twice before the nurse noticed me. "Sorry about that," she said. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm a trainer. Do you know how I can get a Slowpoke to want to get strong along with me?"

The nurse smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I haven't heard of any trainers catching Slowpoke. Slowpoke's two separate evolutions, Slowbro and Slowking, can be both powerful and co-operative, but trainers who have them usually caught them in their evolved forms. Sorry."

I sighed. "It's fine."

I went back upstairs and into my room. No trainer had ever trained a Slowpoke, eh? That only made me more eager to get my Slowpoke to cooperate with me.

And as I opened the door to my room, my jaw dropped. There the Slowpoke was, using Water Gun _everywhere_. The entire room was dripping wet, and my other two pokemon were scrambling around, dodging the increasingly rapid Water Guns spurting out of the pokemon. I ran to the Slowpoke's ball on the bed and returned him. I got hit by a Water Gun right before that, however.

I glared at Monotone and Grime. "How. Just... how."

Grime looked nervously at Monotone... who _looked nervously at_ Grime. Monotone _was expressing emotion on its face_. Something was off. Not to mention my Slowpoke was actually strong. And not to mention I would have to pay off everything I owned because of all the damage in the room.

"How."

"My lord, we were only playing..." Grime started, her voice not deep, but high pitched. She trailed off quickly, and averted her gaze.

"Trainer, Grime said to sleeping Slowpoke that he going to be worst on the team. Then I said him I think he stupid. We kept insulting Slowpoke, until suddenly woke up and attacked."

It took me a few seconds to understand what Monotone said, and it wasn't just because of the grammar. "He doesn't like being insulted? That's..."

"My lord, there is actually more. I... I kind of... I... used Bite..."

I facepalmed. "We blasted off his ears more than once, and he didn't react to that! Maybe... where did you Bite him?"

"On top of head," Monotone answered.

I sat down on the bed, then got up almost immediately because of how drenched it was. "This is very useful. We will continue on with our plan of getting this Slowpoke to participate with us. If we can find what makes him tick, we can get him to train and battle for us. The speed at which he used Water Gun, and their size, was no laughing matter. I will settle the financial problems this has caused us, and we will move to the route to the north. According to the Gallade, that route will be the path to Striaton City; our destination after recruiting this Slowpoke."

My two pokemon nodded, and this time, I made sure they were all returned to their balls before leaving the room.

After half an hour, and all of the money Arice gave me gone (the nurse was kind enough to not ask for more than my cash), I was walking through Accumula Town with my three pokeballs clipped to my belt.

It was astoundingly beautiful. Accumula Town had a different style of quaintness, with the plentiful nature masterfully enveloping the wooden houses everywhere. There were a few people on the streets who seemed to avoid me. It took me some time before I realized it was because I looked like I had just walked out of Marine Cave.

I finally reached the route, which was labelled with a wooden sign: 'Route 2: A pastoral road where novice trainers challenge one another.' I remembered Unova sent all of their new pokemon trainers to Nuvema Town to start their journey, as the wild pokemon slowly grew stronger from there. The Unovan government numbered their routes to indicate where trainers would normally go.

I walked in a little, noting that it was basically just a large, curving pathway with trees on either side. Of course, that would mean there would many trainers in sight.

"Hey kid!" Someone yelled. I sighed and turned around to see a kid with orange clothes wearing an orange cap backwards. "I have three pokemon too! I challenge you to a three on three singles match!"

I laughed. "No thanks, kid." And I turned back around to walk away. However, I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt.

I turned around again and looked the excited kid in the eye. "I don't want to battle you. I need to train my third pokemon to get it up to speed," I said truthfully.

"I'll help you train it if I lose to you in the match!"

That caught my interest, and the boy seemed to notice it. "And If I win, you help me catch a fourth pokemon here instead."

I thought about it. This boy certainly was clever, I would have to give him that. Getting help would certainly be nice. "I'll agree if it is two on two, singles," I said.

The boy shrugged. "Alright. Fine by me. So we're actually doing a battle?"

"We're doing a battle, yes."

My first battle in Unova. I had to win. Once we had cleared a good space off to the side, we released our first pokemon simultaneously. I was using Grime first as I had used Monotone first against Gimp.

It was my Poochyena against his purple Nidoran.

I knew Nidoran as Poison type pokemon.

"That's a pokemon I haven't heard of! Are you even from Unova! The boy yelled as the two pokemon sized up their opponent. I shook my head. "Grime, Standard Attack!" I yelled. Standard Attack was spamming Howl to boost her attack higher and higher, using Sand Attack if the pokemon got near, and using Tackle whenever the opponent was clearly open. Grime followed through and started Howling.

My opponent gritted his teeth. "Nedo! Focus Energy!" the Nidoran was standing in place, and orange rings of light started floating around it.

Focus Energy was also a self-improvement move. It allowed the pokemon to get a higher chance of landing a critical hit; doing more damage. I didn't feel like changing the playing field. Both pokemon would become completely offense-oriented at the end of the session, but that was fine by me.

And for the next minute, neither of us told our pokemon to change what they were doing. Grime continued to Howl, and the Nidoran continued to surround itself with orange light.

Finally, the boy grew impatient. "Nidoran! Run in for the kill!"

That command was creepy. As the Nidoran ran towards my Poochyena, I didn't make any new commands. When the Nidoran was close enough, Grime used Sand Attack and ran around in a wide circle, then charged at the temporarily-blinded Nidoran from behind. She used Tackle.

And boom, just like that, the Nidoran fainted. Flawless execution on Grime's part. The trainer blushed and returned his Nidoran while I congratulated my Poochyena.

I had an empowered pokemon, along with an unused pokemon in reserve, against this trainer, who only had one pokemon left. What could _possibly_ go wrong?

* * *

Chapter 12 MC/age/pokemon changes: NONE

.-.-.

From now on, I will also include the viewpoint character's pokemon below and what moves they knew at the end of each chapter (not necessarily changes). So here you go:

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack, Bite

Slowpoke (not yet nicknamed) - Yawn, Tackle, Growl, Water Gun


	13. Internationally Acclaimed Guys

The boy unclipped another of his pokeballs, and threw it. Grime and I watched in anticipation to see which pokemon he would throw.

After a few seconds, we found out. It was a Baltoy. They were Ground/Psychic type and actually originated from Hoenn.

"My strongest pokemon and my starter! Muddy attack!" The Baltoy spun into action.

"Keep distance, and Howl whenever possible! A single Bite afterwards can win the battle!" I yelled. Grime kept on running away from the Baltoy, making sure to not get cornered at the edges of the field.

However, the Baltoy was definitely faster. It moved around while spinning rapidly. Soon enough, Grime was only a meter away, and the Baltoy managed to land a Mud-Slap on Grime.

I gritted my teeth. Mud-Slap didn't do much damage, but it usually decreased the accuracy of the opponent. If 'muddy attack' had meant using a lot of Mud-Slap, I would have to make sure this battle would end as soon as possible.

"Grime! On the offensive now!"

My Poochyena barked and ran at the opposing Baltoy. I crossed my fingers, hoping Grime could land the attack.

It missed. Of course I couldn't rely on luck. The opposing boy laughed, and his Baltoy managed to land another Mud-Slap directly on Grime's face. That would lower his accuracy _a lot_.

There was only one obvious solution. I returned Grime, and sent out Monotone.

The boy's expression was unreadable. "An Ultra Beast!"

I nodded, and yelled, "Monotone! Move #4 barrage!" I had renumbered the moves after Poipole had learnt Venoshock. Venoshock was the new Move #4.

My Poipole burst into action, expertly dodging the Mud-Slap attacks being sent its way.

"Switch to Psybeam!" The boy yelled as his Baltoy dodged a Venoshock.

I paled, remembering the type disadvantage. "Monotone! Evasive maneuvers! Switch to Peck, despite the risks!" I yelled. Getting in close would hopefully fluster the opponent, such that the Baltoy would have a tough time aiming its Psybeam attacks.

However, as my Poipole floated in closer, the opponent Baltoy used Confusion; A ball of blue light radiated out of the Baltoy and hit Monotone, sending him spiralling down to the ground.

"Monotone!" I yelled with concern and fear.

"Finish it off!" The boy said with a grin. His Baltoy nodded and released a Psybeam at point-blank range on the fallen Poipole, fainting him.

I returned Monotone, and sent Grime back out. Monotone hadn't even gotten a shot in. However, Grime did have a type advantage. Nevertheless, by returning Grime, I didn't just erase the loss of accuracy; I erased the massive boost in attack strength from the Howling.

"My lord! I'm sorry for my earlier failure! I will make it up!" Grime shouted with a bark.

"Then continue with the offensive plan!" I commanded. Grime immediately ran at the Baltoy with renewed energy, who narrowly dodged the Bite. Since Grime was Dark type, the Baltoy's Psychic type moves couldn't do damage. However, those Mud-Slaps still warranted caution.

I watched intently at Grime chased after the Baltoy, who was having difficulty staying out of the way, let alone being able to use any offensive moves of its own.

"Baltoy! Do that move!" The boy yelled. I looked at his face, and even though it was far away, he was far from happy.

My attention snapped back to the battle as a large cloud of dust burst forth with a loud *BOOM* sound. As the dust cleared, both pokemon had fainted.

"You-you used Explosion!" I said, incredulous.

We returned our pokemon, and the boy ran up to me. "My Baltoy was going to lose. Tying is better than winning." And with that said, the boy simply ran off.

It took me a few minutes to realize the situation I was in. Two of my pokemon fainted... well, I wasn't that far into the route. I could always go back along the middle of the path, since wild pokemon didn't seem to stray beyond the edges.

And that's what I did. I retraced my steps back to the pokemon center, angry at the boy, at Unova, and at my Slowpoke. I noticed there were a few people in the lobby.

The nurse greeted me. "Oh yes, the boy who squirted all over his room."

I blushed. "Don't put it like that! It was my pokemon that squirted everywhere! Wait, that doesn't sound any better... whatever. Could you please heal two of my pokemon?"

The nurse nodded and took the balls of Grime and Monotone. I took a seat at the waiting chairs. I was curious; why were there so many trainers in this small town at once?

"Might I ask who you are?" I said to the three kids sitting next to me. They all seemed to be around 16 or 17 years old.

The girl with blonde hair and a green hat said, "Oh! M-my name's Bianca!"

I shook her hand. "Well my name is-"

One of the two other boys cleared his throat. He had dark blue hair that seemed to magically defy gravity in a variety of ways. He also seemed to hold an air of righteous snob, quite the opposite of the other boy, who was ignoring me and doing something on his phone.

The blue haired boy said, "you, kid, are definitely not from Unova. Or this planet, for that matter. Sitting in the same room as you is the esteemed Black, defeator of Team Plasma, elite four me-"

"Cheren, please," the boy who had been on his phone said in an exasperated tone. He put his phone in his pocket and looked at me. His hair was similar to mine, and he had on a red-and-black cap.

"BLACK! THE BLACK!" I yelled, my eyes wide.

"See? You have to be more open, Black. You always keep to yourself, so people don't recognize you easily," Cheren said sternly.

Bianca smiled at me apologetically. "Sorry to bother you, we're just passing by, checking on young trainers and encouraging them. Like you, I think?"

I gaped. "Bother me! No way! You really are Black, the youngest of the current elite four!"

Black averted his gaze, blushing. "Well, I _am_ the weakest of the elite four. I'm probably going to get kicked out in the next tournament..."

"Black! I have a request for you!" I yelled, suddenly remembering my Slowpoke.

Cheren huffed. "Black doesn't have time to spare on signing autogra-"

"No, Cheren! It's fine. We're waiting for our pokemon anyway, it's alright." Black turned to me. "Where do I sign?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't going to ask for a signature... I was wondering if you had any tips for raising a Slowpoke..."

Black rested his chin on his fist. "Well. I would be able to help you more if I knew more about you..."

I smiled. An elite four member wanted to know about me? _ME?_ Well... not bad. "I'm a thirteen year old boy who came from Hoenn, to be more precise, Littleroot Town. I got my starter when a gang of aliens popped out of the sky and gave me this purple Ultra Beast that never shows any expression. Almost never. Then I got this other pokemon while I was covered in the blood of myself and this pokemon - wait no, just my blood, heh heh... no pokemon blood... and yeah, covered in my blood and dirt and I was undergoing mental trauma then a Poochyena attacked me and I was forced to catch it to not get killed by it, and then I got this third pokemon when I teleported to Unova - just by myself, this girl's Gallade separates me from my friends - and I found this thief who randomly threw a Slowpoke's pokeball at me, and now I need help learning how to make him battle ready."

The three teenagers stared at me, their faces blank. I laughed nervously. "Oh yeah, my childhood friend got teleported to Castelia City or something, so I'm on a journey to find him."

"Your pokemon are ready, you three!" The nurse called. It took a few seconds for them to process that. They took their pokemon, then awkwardly sat back down on the waiting seats.

"That seemed too..." Cheren said before trailing off.

"Impossible?" Bianca offered.

Black nodded. "But you looked completely serious when you said it. You're from, Hoenn, huh? Cheren may be racist, but I'm not. I think easterners are just as powerful. I hope you'll go to great heights with your training."

I took a deep breath. "Sorry, I think I left out a few tidbits. So-"

Cheren cleared his throat. "That's enough, young sir. I believe your story, however. You do have a Beast Ball."

I decided to show them Monotone, but then I remembered the nurse had him. "Wait... how do you know that?"

"I watched you walk in," Cheren said, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world. He then looked at Black. "If there was an Ultra Wormhole appearing, Black, you should've known about it..."

Black sighed. "Actually, I also got a message about a laser gun being sent to the Pokemon League headquarters. It was apparently recovered near Petalburg City in Hoenn."

I smiled nervously. "I was there when the laser gun was... recovered..."

Black took out his phone and started texting someone. Cheren and Bianca, sitting on either side of him, were looking at the screen. I simply sat there awkwardly, not sure whether I should get up and see what was happening, or just sit there.

A few seconds later, a Bronzong appeared alongside a man with brown hair and inquisitive black eyes. They literally just... appeared in the lobby. And no one else even batted an eye.

"Black, are you sure about this? This boy is valuable?" The man asked. I raised an eyebrow, and for some reason, I felt like running away.

Black nodded, and the man started staring at me. I looked at my feet, avoiding his intense gaze.

"He is from Littleroot Town. He has no friends... except for his pokemon, and one boy who died recently. He is very confused and afraid right now. What he wants most at this point in time... is to run away," The man said.

I looked up at the man's face. He was still staring at me. "Uh..." was all I could manage. "That boy didn't die..."

"I'm sorry. Then he must've run away or something. That's not the point. You, young sir, will come with me to the International Police bureau."

I wiped away sweat from my brow. "Wait, who even are you?"

"He is the top officer of the International Police, Looker."

I sighed, exhausted. Another internationally acclaimed guy? And he wasn't even nice.

"You think I'm not nice," the Looker said. He still hadn't moved any muscles apart from those to speak. His eyes were still trained on me.

I noticed the nurse had my pokemon set on the counter, and was looking at my predicament with a worried expression.

"Young boy, please come with me. I promise, torture is only for those who don't comply. Bianca, don't give me that look. We've only done it three times total to children."

I felt like running away more than ever. I decided that was the best option, and bolted towards my two balls, held them in each hand, with my Slowpoke ball still clipped to my belt, and I ran towards the door.

Two things happened almost right after that. First, a boy opened and ran through the door to the pokemon center, bumping into me with great force. I recognized him as the boy I had tied with in battle. Second, I was enveloped in a bright purple light, along with the Looker and his Bronzong. However, since that other boy was so close to me, he was enveloped in the light as well.

And we all teleported away.

* * *

AN: Yes, this viewpoint character gets pulled off in random places all the time. Don't worry though, they won't get teleported _that_ far away... right?

* * *

Chapter 13 MC/age/pokemon changes:

New main character: White (age: 17) - pokemon unknown

New main character: Looker (age: 33) - Bronzong, rest of pokemon unknown

Baltoy Boy made into a main character (temporarily) (age: 13) - Baltoy, Nidoran, ?

.-.-.

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack, Bite

Slowpoke (not yet nicknamed) - Yawn, Tackle, Growl, Water Gun


	14. Absolute Justice

AN: There's a death in this chapter. Just a heads-up.

* * *

Ray had been training for the past 20-ish hours, being left alone with his Carvanha in the Castelia Sewers, along with a variety of world-class items. He had actually caught a pokemon in there as well; a Sandile.

And after all of that training, he was finally going to get to meet Ratem.

Two adults covered in shiny black clothing from head to toe escorted him out of the stinky sewers. He walked into a shiny black car, and a driver in a shiny black suit drove him to a shiny black building.

They got out of the car, and Ray was escorted into an elevator, where one of the two adults with him pressed a button to go to 'Floor X'. The button had been invisible prior to being pressed. Ray waited nervously as the elevator played cheap songs sung by Lisia the pop star.

The elevator opened in a room full of people in shiny black suits, shiny black floor tiles, shiny black computers, and shiny black desks. Ray followed the two adults with him down the aisle, with the workers on either side typing away at their computers. At the end of the aisle, after an entire five minute walk at brisk pace, there was a shiny black door. The door's label read 'Da Boss'.

Ray stifled a laugh as they simply waited outside of the door. A few minutes later, the door opened, and out came Ratem.

Ratem smiled. "Ah, he passed the test?"

The two adults with Ray nodded once simultaneously. Then Ratem nodded, and the two adults turned around exactly 180 degrees and walked away.

"Follow me, Ray." Ray shrugged and followed the second strongest trainer in the world into the shiny black room.

It was essentially like the large workspace outside, except smaller. It also had a large window, which overlooked a road from seemingly a thousand floors above. Being a rural kid, Ray had never seen something like that.

"Ray. You are the sixth member to successfully pass the test. Congratulations!"

Ray raised an eyebrow. "So you were watching me in the sewers?"

Ratem smiled. "My men were. They were especially impressed by your ability to easily bond with your pokemon, apparently." Ratem was looking at his phone while speaking. The phone was large and shiny black. "Take a seat, Ray."

Ray complied and sat down on one of the shiny black chairs. "So... do I have a choice to work with you or not?"

Ratem frowned, and set his phone on his desk. He looked at Ray intently. "You do understand that you are one of the few people capable of saving this world from destruction?"

Ray sighed. It was something he had thought about for a long time. "I don't want to save the world or anything. I'm not the only... shifter, is it? There are others. They can save the world. I just want to go on a normal journey, become champion, and have fun..."

Ratem tapped his desk with his fingers. "I see. I'll train you to the best of my ability, as I'm sure Maggie told you. You can still participate in the pokemon league challenge tournament. In exchange for my tutoring, you need to help save the world. I'd say that's a sweet deal for you."

"But what if I die?"

Ratem grinned. "You think you can be champion and not have to worry about death? Kid, trainer journeys aren't just fun and games. Plus, don't worry. I can protect you out there, if you really want to guarantee your safety."

Ray gaped. "You're a shifter?"

"Yes. I'm the first shifter who 'passed the test'. Well, I didn't do the test, I just passed myself when I made this organization, but yeah."

Ray cracked his knuckles. "Well, I guess saving the world make me look cool, I guess. Plus I get your training. So, what's next?"

Ratem chuckled. "You changed your mind quickly. In a week or so, we're holding a meeting with all the shifters who passed the test. Until then, you can do what you want. Those two adults with you will do whatever you say. They're standing right next to the elevator. You can go outside, ask them to teleport you somewhere, whatever. Just be sure to check in here daily, alright?"

Ray raised an eyebrow, but he didn't complain. "Well... I guess I could go around filling up my team however I want, then."

Ratem nodded. "Well, see you tomorrow then. And please don't die, one of our shifters - this little boy with an orange cap - he died a few hours ago."

* * *

I looked around me the moment I finished teleporting. It was funny that I had gotten used to being suddenly teleported. We were in a conference room, with white walls, a manilla table that took up most of the floor space, and a dozen or so comfy chairs evenly spaced around said table.

There was also the Looker, who returned his Bronzong. There was also the boy I had tied with in Route 2.

"WHAT!" The Looker sqealed in a high pitched voice. Then he seemed to realize what he'd said, and turned red. He cleared his throat and dusted off his already spotless brown coat. "Why are there two boys here?"

I shrugged and looked at the other boy, who looked at me and shrugged. He didn't seem as terrified as I thought he should've been.

The Looker sighed. "I see," he said, and he released his Bronzong.

"What is it?" The Bronzong asked in a mechanical voice.

"Teleport the boy with the stupid orange cap back to where we were," the Looker said.

"Which one? They both have stupid caps," the Bronzong said. I raised an eyebrow. I didn't have a cap on.

The Looker rolled his eyes. "That's hair, Desmond. _Hair._ "

The Bronzong looked at us two boys. "Ah, you're correct. My bad." And the Bronzong was about to teleport the boy away...

"No! I wanna stay!" the boy yelled.

The Looker frowned. "We're wasting time. We're in the International Police HQ. Little useless kids are not necessary."

The boy pouted, and pointed at me. "This kid tied with me in battle! And he gets to stay?"

I decided to just take a seat and wait for the drama to end. Bratty kids were really annoying.

The Looker took out a gun from his coat and shot the kid dead.

The Looker _took out a gun_ from his coat and _shot the kid dead_. In front of my eyes!

I gaped as I watched blood seep out of the wound, and I saw the boy fall to the spotless ground, his eyes lifeless.

"Whoops. We'll need to get someone to clean that up. Bronzong, could you do the honors?"

The Bronzong nodded and floated out the door.

"What the f%$&!" I covered my mouth. I had never said a swear word out loud before.

The Looker sat down on the seat to my left. "Well. I would like to interro-"

"You're the International Police! Not a criminal gang!" I yelled, suddenly furious. I was surprised at my outburst. Did I want to die?

The Looker rested his hands on the table and sat straight. "The boy was a criminal."

My jaw dropped as I stared at the Looker. "You can't know that!"

The Looker smirked. "I'm the top officer of the International Police. I can know everything about someone just by looking at them. That kid found you in some route... then he battled you, in order to confirm that you owned an Ultra Beast... knowing you were special, he followed behind you. Once he knew you were going to be teleported, he ran into the pokemon center and got teleported as well." The Looker nodded. "He was an easy one to read."

My jaw dropped further. "W-W-What? He purposely tied me! So he... then he was watching from outside the pokemon center? Oh my god..."

The Looker flicker his wrist. "Well, that's all in the past. Oh look, our cleaners are here."

I saw two Venipede crawl across the ground to the dead body of the boy. The Looker returned the Bronzong as the two Venipede had lunch.

Their lunch was the dead body of the boy. I paled, feeling tears in my eyes. "This is cruel..."

The Looker sighed again. "Ah, this is why I hate dealing with children. Always unaware of practicality, logic, and rationality."

"So what do you want to do with me?" I asked.

The Looker smiled. "Yes, let's _finally_ get down to business. So I'm going to interrogate you... well, once the Venipede are done. They are unfortunately a little noisy... okay, they're leaving. So I'm going to ask you questions, and you're going to answer."

I nodded, feeling sick. The images of the dead body, the blood seeping out of the wound... they were stuck in my mind.

"Tell me everything that happened when the Ultra Wormhole appeared. What you were doing before, during, and after it. Tell me everything."

I told him everything, the words just flowing out of my mouth. My mind was elsewhere... no, my mind was empty. I had just seen my first death. And to me, it had been pointless.

The Looker nodded. "I see. That Ray kid... you said you later found out he went to Castelia City. He's a shifter alright."

I snapped back to reality. "A shifter?"

The Looker nodded, looking thoughtful. "Yes, a shifter. One of the rare humans who can survive in the Ultra Planet's atmosphere. Now do tell me everything that happened during your confrontation with the alien who was captured." I told him everything.

"Good, good. Thanks for your cooperation. Would you like a refreshment?"

I shook my head. The Looker nodded, and got up from his seat. "I'll go get myself some. You can sit here and wait."

I rested my head on the table as the Looker left the room. Then I remembered Ray when he had found out his parents died. His parents. I had just witnessed a stranger die. Moping around wasn't useful. Doing something was.

And I wanted to screw up the Looker and his happiness. Killing him wasn't good; I wanted to make his life miserable. Then I remembered that's still just revenge, and revenge was technically immoral.

The Looker came back in a few minutes later with a bottle of alcohol and a wine glass that reminded me of Tyson for some reason.

He sat down next to me again, and poured himself a drink.

"So. To be honest, you've already told me enough. I still want to thank you. Here at the International Police, we believe in absolute justice."

I gritted my teeth. "So you would just kill a boy in order to uphold that justice? What happened to jail? A fair trial?"

The Looker sighed, and took a sip of the golden liquid. "My skills are perfect. That boy was interested in the disruption of our world's balance by revealing the location of this base. Such intentions, among others, some of which I cannot say, were enough to warrant his murder. Now, no more talk on the boy. It's a dead subject."

I leaned back in my chair. "And you're sure I won't reveal this base's location?"

The Looker smirked as he took another sip. "You don't even know. But, even if you did, I have sensed a feeling of justice in you. You have commited a great wrong in the recent past, and that has drastically changed you."

"Can I leave now?"

"Actually... wait, I have to go to the bathroom."

I watched as the Looker left again. Then, without properly thinking through what I was going to do, I walked out of the room myself. I walked through the hallways, all perfectly polished, and I was surprised that I didn't see anyone. I continued walking, until I found a stairs that led above my position. There was a label next to it: 'RoRF'. I shrugged, and walked up the stairs.

* * *

I was in a forest. The trees above me had cut out all sunlight, but I could tell from the woody smell and the chirping Pidoves that I was out in the open.

I looked at my belt and made sure I had all three pokemon with me. My backpack was also on. That was all I needed, so I started running in a random direction. So much for an International Police HQ. A little boy like me had just escaped it like it was a cakewalk.

I hadn't realized it, but my body was actually getting more muscular. Whether it was my puberty, or my constant need to travel somewhere, or both, I was able to run through the uneven forest floor for an hour straight (well, I did jog some of the time). I stopped when I had reached a cliff, which overlooked more forest that spread into the horizon. I looked over the edge of the cliff to behold a bunch of gray jutting spikes.

"Now what?" I muttered, lost. I decided to release my three pokemon and see what they thought.

My Slowpoke was sleeping. Monotone simply floated where it was, staring at me creepily like it always did. And then there was Grime, who ran at me and started licking my face.

"I'm sorry for the defeat, my lord!" Grime apologized incessantly.

"No, you did fine," I said. "You did really well against that Nidoran."

Grime smiled, and got off me. She started sniffing the sleeping Slowpoke again.

I watched her for some time, then I realized something. Something important. I looked at Monotone, who was still staring at me.

"Monotone... you did great?" I said, unsure of how to console my starter.

"Trainer." That was all he said.

I looked up at the clear sky, trying to think of something good to say. "Monotone, I will not hold the loss against you," I said. "We will challenge the Striaton City Gym, and I will send you out first. No matter what. Deal?" I nodded, feeling confidant with what I had said.

"Trainer. I respect you."

Well, that was unexpected. "And I respect you?"

"AAAAAAACK!" A high pitched voice screamed. I watched as the Slowpoke suddenly woke up, Grime's jaws releasing themselves from the Slowpoke's back. I smiled. "Slowpoke. Your name is Aack."

"Trainer, why?"

"Because we need to get him Bitten to do anything. And when Bitten, he says 'AAAACK!'. So yeah, Aack. I'm creative."

"Gimme something tasty," said a blubbery voice. It was Aack.

I shrugged, and took an Oran Berry out of my backpack. "If you promise to be a good battling pokemon, I'll give you the berry."

Aack narrowed his already lidded eyes. Then he blew a Water Gun at me. Luckily, moves magically passed through humans. Otherwise, I would've fallen off the cliff and onto those spikes down below.

"Aack, I'm determined to get you to comply with me. We're going to spend the rest of this day in this forest - which could very well be anywhere in the world, for all I know - and get you to _want_ to be a part of this family. Got it?"

Aack went back to sleep.

Looks like I had a herculean task ahead of me... again.

* * *

Chapter 14 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Ray gets a Sandile

Looker's Bronzong is nicknamed 'Desmond'.

The Viewpoint Character's Slowpoke is given the nickname 'Aack.'

The Baltoy Boy is killed, so he is no longer a main character.

.-.-.

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack, Bite

Aack - Yawn, Tackle, Growl, Water Gun


	15. Cliffside Revelations

AN: So I recently had a period of self-doubt in my writing abilities since I haven't have that many views/follows (at least for what I was hoping for). I decided to scrap this story and do some other story, but while planning out that story, I realized I loved this one too much. So I thought about it and decided that I would stick with this until the end, regardless of how many views or follows or favorites or reviews I get. Lol this sounds cliche, but yeah, that's what happened.

* * *

I contemplated the matter as I finished up a cup noodles and threw its empty container over the edge of the cliff (hey, I was in some random forest, no need to feel obligated to keep it clean or whatever). How to get a Slowpoke to want to battle? Even Black himself said it wasn't possible.

But I dreamed of being the best, and that meant doing things no one else could do.

"Trainer, what your plan?" Monotone asked. My first two pokemon had agreed to help try to change Aack's mind.

"I've decided to use something from school. It's called the scientific method. Basically, we make an objective - which for us is getting a Slowpoke to want to train and battle - then we make a hypothesis, then we test. If it fails, we try again, analyzing data along the way, continuing to make hypotheses until success."

"What the first hypothesis?"

"Eh... I dunno. I think we might be able to draw some conclusions from that time you two got him to squirt all over the Pokemon center room."

"My lord, last time I had Bitten him, and we made a few insults. That was it."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Using Bite only seems to wake him up. So that wouldn't be a useful trigger for motivation. Instead, we should focus on the insults... Okay, we have our first hypothesis."

 **Hypothesis #1: Aack gets enraged when insulted.**

"Trainer, that not address the problem of battle motivation."

"Yes, but we have a good amount of time, and we should take things one at a time."

Monotone didn't respond. I assumed that meant he agreed. So we were ready. "To test the hypothesis... Grime, you may Bite him. As his trainer, I will insult him, and evaluate his reaction."

Grime nodded, and visibly tingling with excitement, she used Bite on the Slowpoke's back. I noted she had never used full force on Aack.

"AAAAAAAACK!" Aack screamed, his eyes flinging open, moving about wildly.

"Hey Slowpoke. You're a little scumbag who no one wants. Heh, even Mew herself thought making you was a mistake," I said, smiling evilly. Or at least I hoped it was evil. Nevertheless, I felt pretty good about my insulting skills.

Aack moved his body to face me. He regarded me with a lidded expression. "I'm hungry," he said before falling asleep.

I was okay with that. I turned to Monotone and Grime. "There you two have it. Our first hypothesis is a failure."

"My lord, that doesn't explain why he threw a tantrum, though."

I sat down. "Yes, there must've been some other factor involved. My insults didn't matter to him, and your Bites only serve to wake him up."

"Trainer, I not have answer to that, but I have another idea," Monotone said. I turned to him. "Reward him food, for exchange for battle."

 **Hypothesis #2: Aack will derive motivation to do things from getting tasty rewards.**

Grime woke him up with another Bite. Aack screamed 'AAACK' again, then regarded me again with a lidded expression.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't just fall asleep instead of answering.

"Yes," Aack said in his blubbery voice. I smiled, and took out an Oran Berry. I gave it to Aack, who had his attention on the Oran Berry.

"Gimme."

I nudged in closer to Aack. Once it was directly below his mouth, he slowly lowered his head and swallowed the Oran Berry.

"I'll give you much more if you agree to train with me!" I said quickly.

Aack glanced at me. "That is work." Then he went back to sleep.

I looked back at my first two pokemon.

"Looks like that didn't work."

"My lord, pardon me for saying this, but you might be behaving... a little too gentle."

I sighed. "Well, sorry. I want to stay focused though. We should still try to think of why Aack went crazy back there. What is different between then and now?"

"Well... confined space, for one," Monotone offered.

 **Hypothesis #3: Aack was afraid of confined spaces.**

"But how are we going to test that?" Grime asked.

"I'll think about it. You two can go out and train and stuff. If you ever get low on health, come back here and I'll heal you," I said.

My two pokemon nodded, and floated/bounded away.

As they were about to enter the canopy of trees, I added, "And _work together_. If you fight each other in the forest, I'll never find your bodies. These pokeballs can't return pokemon from like a kilometer away."

They left without nodding again, which made me a _little_ worried. But I needed them to learn to work together. I focused on the sleeping Aack in front of me.

"So how do we make a confined space in a forest?" I wondered aloud.

"Ah, they're gone."

I looked around, wondering who had said that. Then I felt a chill run down my spine... and I looked over the edge of a cliff, expecting to see a murderer with a gun and ten knives and a wild face and the patience to wait until all of my pokemon were gone...

But there was no murderer. And I realized that blubbery voice could only have been... Aack.

"You have a death wish or something? Don't look over cliffs. It's dangerous."

My jaw dropped as I stared at Aack, his eyes lidded, but he was awake!

"Honestly, being around other pokemon is weird. I really hate it."

I raised an eyebrow.

 **Hypothesis #4: Aack hates other pokemon and pretends to sleep when they are around.**

I told Aack my fourth hypothesis.

"Spot on, kid. You aren't that dumb. Nice."

I chuckled. "Really? You hate every pokemon?" I've heard of pokemon hating humans, but not all other pokemon!

"I have my own past problems. Don't we all? Look, I'm alright to stay on your team and fight or whatever. Of course, I still would like some Oran Berry rewards. Anyways, I just don't want to have to deal with other pokemon."

"But you need to battle other pokemon... that's what fighting is!"

Aack nodded slowly. "If I can attack my opponent to my heart's content, that would be a dream come true."

"So you avoid my other pokemon because..."

"Because I can't attack them without restriction. I _do_ have a sense of duty, after all. See, I pretend to sleep so I won't lose control and go wild."

"That's what happened in the pokemon center room?"

"Yes, but it wasn't because of the confined space like you guys were thinking. It was the fact that you weren't there. I kinda lost control because of that..." Aack averted his gaze, seemingly blushing (it was hard to tell since his skin was pink).

I found myself enjoying the conversation. I wasn't reacting to his sudden change of behavior like I would've thought; maybe I'd grown immune to weird surprises.

"Oh yeah, I'm also masochistic. Just so you know."

I scrambled over the edge of the cliff and threw up. When I was done heaving, I looked at Aack incredulously. "WHAT!"

"By the definition of enjoying pain, nothing more, nothing less." Aack rolled his eyes.

I sighed. It was a little better than I had previously thought, but still... that was weird.

"When I found out I had been stolen, and in the end I was with you, I didn't really like it. Of course, now I'm actually excited. Pokemon battles! Think about it, I could utilize the weakness I have to become something amazing!"

Now I was sure he was serious. Just to make sure, I slapped his on the cheek, an he emitted a groan of pleasure. "It's because of this I hate pokemon. They've always thought I was a monster and should be killed."

And then a thought came to me. Grime was ostracized due to a hidden ability. Looks like Aack had a similar past. Then I realized I had just considered masochism was a hidden ability for a pokemon, and I threw up over the edge of the cliff again.

* * *

Monotone and Grime had just fought off two attacking Munna; separately, of course.

"Pathetic pest spawn, it has been an hour. Should we return?"

Monotone regarded Grime. "We far from tired. At least I am."

Grime nodded, not wanting to be the first to admit she was in need of a potion.

"So, alien pest, I have just now gained the option to learn Odor Sleuth. Shall I forget the move Sand Attack? My lord doesn't use it as much."

"Do what you want," Monotone said offhandedly while using Venoshock to decimate a Purrloin.

"I'll do it, then. You're insignificant opinion doesn't matter anyway."

\- - half an hour later - -

Grime and Monotone were on their way back. Both were visibly damaged, and in dire need of potions.

Unfortunately for them, three Patrat scurried in their way.

"Heh! Intruders!" They scoffed simultaneously.

Monotone and Grime looked at each other in fear.

And the battle began. Grime proceeded to run around the find places to attack with Bite. Monotone simply floated a ways above and threw Acids and Venoshocks at the Patrat.

During their time together, the two pokemon had created the plan to have Grime fight head-on, and have Monotone float from afar and attack with long ranged moves.

It took only a minute for the three Patrat to faint. Monotone floated down to the ground. "Grime, I decided respect you as equal."

Grime growled. "You vile alien, I will believe you are near my outstanding capabilities. Obviously, my lord prefers me to you. I'm stronger and more reliable."

"Trainer finds me his favorite. He has risked his life for my well-being."

Grime smirked. "You can ask him, he'll say I'm his favorite."

Monotone didn't reply, and they continued progressing towards their trainer and the other pokemon on the team.

* * *

I saw my first two pokemon appear from within the confines of the forest to my little camp at the cliff.

I beamed. "Aack is now ready to be the third member of the team!" I announced. I had done some training with Aack in the past hour or so, and he had even learned Confusion.

I savored the look of shock on Monotone and Grime's faces. "That's right, your trainer has done something no other trainer has done before! Of course, Aack isn't just any Slowpoke, so I wasn't completely my own ability..." I had decided I wouldn't tell my team about Aack's... interesting personality until later, when they were used to knowing he was on the team.

"He has some rules, however. Mainly, he doesn't ever want to see you two, or any of my future pokemon for that matter. Can that be respected?"

"Trainer, you were the one preaching about teamwork..."

I looked at Aack's pokeball, and was thankful pokemon couldn't hear what was going on when inside of one. "I'll make sure to change him for the better one day... for now, we'll have to go with this."

"My lord, I have no objections. I don't wish to see that lazy son of a-"

I cleared my throat. "At any rate, have you guys found out where we are?"

"My lord, there are many Munna here."

I grinned. "Really! Wild Munna!"

My Poochyena nodded.

"Wild Munna only live in or near the Dreamyard... guys! We're to the east of Striaton City! We aren't that far off!"

And after another half an hour, the three of us set out west, hoping that Striation City would be somewhere there.

* * *

The Looker was sitting in the same conference room where he had teleported to with the two boys. On the laptop screen in front of him, which displayed the live CCTV camera footage of the forests above the HQ, there was the boy with his three pokemon on the edge of a cliff.

The Looker laughed. "You will follow the path of absolute justice, for sure. Good luck, young boy."

* * *

Chapter 15 MC/age/pokemon changes: NONE

.-.-.

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Howl, Odor Sleuth, Bite

Aack - Yawn, Tackle, Confusion, Water Gun


	16. Freak

I was out of supplies by the time I found my first human being.

When it had gotten dark, I had decided to test Monotone's limits by asking him to float really high and report anything he saw. Turns out he could actually float in space; it had taken him around two hours to get back, and when he said he had forgotten what I had asked him to do, I had to wait another 20-ish minutes for him to get back.

He had said there were light coming from a certain direction, which I assumed to be Striaton City. It took us another hour of travelling in the complete darkness before we found a large clearing, with some trees arranged in patterns and a large, eroded, partially buried building. There were even some humans. The area was lit by many lamp-posts giving off soft purple glows.

It was the Dreamyard.

"Whoa! A monster!" A lass screamed. Everyone in the general area turned to look at her, and they traced her gaze to see me.

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if eastern discrimination was really this rampant in the Dreamyard. Then I realized the lass had probably screamed because of all the dirt and other things clinging to my skin. Well, it could have been worse; I didn't have any blood on me.

"My lord, I can eradicate the nuisance if you desire," Grime said, growling.

I patted her on the head. "It's fine, I would probably do the same." Then I walked closer to the Lass.

"I wish to know where Striation City is!" I said in the scariest voice I could manage.

The lass, instead of shying away in fright, put on a defiant face and released a pokemon. It was a Munna.

I facepalmed, more than tired of dealing with that species. "Will you tell me if I defeat you in a one on one battle?" I asked. All of my pokemon were weakened considerably, but they all had more than enough practice with Munna.

The lass hesitated, then nodded slightly. "Fine then. If you lose, you're taking one of my pokemon!"

"Fine then, I'll fight tooth and nail for my pokemon!" I released Aack, eager to check out his skills in a trainer battle.

The lass laughed. "I said _you_ can take one of _my_ pokemon if you lose!"

It was my turn to laugh. "You got a screw loose? I get something good either way! Although I actually don't accept other people's pokemon."

"Heh, heh," I heard Aack mutter. I ignored him.

The lass shook her head, however. "No, I would give you one of my Panpour, Pansear, or Pansage pokemon."

It took me a few seconds for that to sink in. Then I realized I was talking to the famed Dream-Giver. The mysterious girl who randomly gave young trainers a Panpour, Pansear, or Pansage. Legend had it that she hadn't aged for the past twelve years. Even in my secluded life at Littleroot Town, I had heard of her at some point.

"If you're the Dream-Giver, wouldn't you be nice?" I asked.

"Well yes, normally. But you're a monster."

"You say that yet think you're nice?"

"A monster is a monster. I'm simply stating a fact."

"Today, I escaped a murderous madman and had to travel through the neighboring forest for the entire day. Now, I want to find civilization, but you're not helping me!" My voice had started out low and solemn, but at the end, I was literally screaming.

The lass kept quiet for a few seconds, then pointed in a certain direction. "You can legally enter the city through there. But I want you to come back here before dawn to meet me, alright?"

"Well, I'm actually still jet lagged and sleep deprived right now, so-"

"Alright?" The lass's voice had an edge to it that, for some reason, made me salute and say, "yes ma'am!" It kind of reminded me of Ms. Werchestire from trainer school; we all had to salute to her at the start of each of her classes.

I returned Aack, who had been pretending to sleep, and I ran off to Striaton City.

* * *

Ray took out his last pokeball, gritting his teeth. If he failed now, he would have to go back and buy more balls, then return and have to find another Noibat.

"Master Ray!" One of his two servants shouted, grabbing him before he fell off the cart.

Ray was with his two servants, riding in a mine cart going at extremely high speeds. They were inside Terminus Cave, chasing after a Noibat; what Ray wanted as his third pokemon. They were one of the rarest pokemon in the world, so finding one had taken quite a lot of time. Ray wasn't about to let the Noibat get out of his sight.

Ray threw the pokeball, hoping against hope he could catch the Noibat.

The pokeball hit dead-on. It fell to the ground, and Ray jumped out of the cart. His servants followed suit, and the mine cart zoomed off into the darkness.

Ray watched as the ball shook once. Then twice. Finally... he caught it. Ray picked up the pokeball, examining it.

"Master Ray, congratulations," one servant said.

Ray nodded in acknowledgement. "Where should we sleep?"

"Anywhere you wish."

"Then, how about we go to Hano Grand Resort?"

A servant nodded, and released an Alakazam. The Alakazam had been nearly everywhere in the world, so she was able to teleport the group anywhere the wanted.

They went to Hano Grand Resort, booked three rooms for one night each, and they all slept in luxury.

Alone in his large bed, Ray grinned. Those servants had made a mistake by taking different rooms from him.

* * *

Striaton City was a medium-sized city known for its buildings made with unique architectural designs. It also contains of the largest gardens in the world; creatively named 'Striaton Garden'.

I walked around the streetlight-lit streets, noticing a drunk man moaning loudly as he stumbled around. He had purple dreadlocks and a large scar over his left eye. I avertex my gaze and tried my best to stay out of his line of sight.

I waited until he left, but instead, he fell to the ground and started flopping. I watched with interest as he threw his green beer bottle in the air above him. When the bottle was about to land on his body, he stopped flopping and suddenly turned around, catching the bottle between his jaws.

Then he jerked his head directly towards me, and crushed the bottle between his teeth, causing teeth to fall out and blood to burst forth.

I took a step back in fear. I was across the street, so if he made any moves towards me, I had ample time to release all three of my pokemon.

"Heyo!" He yelled. Then he started mumbling some other stuff which didn't make any sense.

As he started flopping around again, I took the chance to run away, without looking back.

"Cuh-baa!" The man groaned loudly. "Cuh-baa!"

I ran even harder, and I finally noticed the pokemon center just around the corner. It was quite large, almost the size of Petalburg City's center. I took a few quick glnces behind me, then walked inside, breathing a sigh of relief.

The lobby was semi-full, with various young trainers talking excitedly among each other. I walked up to the nurse, whose eyes bulged when she saw me.

"A room for two nights and healing for these pokemon, please," I said, setting my three occupied pokeballs and my trainer's license on the marble counter.

"Alright! Your room is 101, please go there right now and take a bath. I should have your pokemon ready by then," the nurse said, swiping my license on the room-register-device.

I thanked her and ran to my room, which was on the same floor. I swiped my card, closed the door behind me, and took a shower. When I was done (it took around 20 minutes), I changed and went out to the lobby to collect my pokemon.

"Ah, you look much better! I have you're pokemon here." The nurse took out three pokeballs from beneath the counter, and I pinned them all to my belt. I felt vulnerable without them, and having them on me made me feel much better.

"Also, young sir, you seem to be thirteen years old. Are you participating in the gym challenge tomorrow?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Gym challenge? Sorry, I'm not from Unova, so I don't know what that is..."

"Ah, I see. Well, every Monday, our gym opens; it's peculiar that way. The building is a actually a fancy restaurant on the other six days of the week. So on Sundays, like today, trainers have to sign up for the gym challenge, another feature unique to Striaton City Gym, where trainers fight each other and hired gym trainers to get a chance at challenging one of the gym leaders."

I nodded. "Well, yes, I'll participate. Thanks for the information."

The nurse signed me up on her desktop while asking me basic questions like my name and age. She told me to be at the gym by dawn.

That meant I would have to go back to the Dreamyard now, If I wanted to sleep. But did I need to go back and see the girl? I wasn't especially interested in getting the help of a free pokemon to defeat a gym leader. I was confident I could win on my own strength. So I decided to just sleep, wake up early, and take on my first gym without worries.

Then I remembered the lass's voice at the end when she had said, 'Alright?'. My blood turned cold, and I decided the bath had given me enough energy to spare some time to return to the Dreamyard.

I got up, exited the pokemon center, and released my three pokemon.

"Alright guys, we have to get to the Dreamyard. Don't attack anyone, but make sure no weirdos try attacking us," I instructed.

I noticed Aack was pretending to sleep. I sighed and picked him up in my arms. "I'll just carry you," I whispered in his ear.

"My lord, are we allowed to kill humans?"

I shook my head. "Please don't, just injure or scare them. I don't want to be a criminal again."

We all retraced our steps back to the Dreamyard in the dark. I was hoping the drunk would've gone somewhere else during my time at the pokemon center.

The drunk man was still there. And he was still flopping around on the ground, grinning wildly and screaming incoherent nonsense.

"Trainer, what kind of pokemon that?"

"Monotone, that's what we call a freak. Make sure to stay away from them."

We walked off, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The man hadn't noticed us.

"Heyo! Don'go! Don'go!" The man screamed, getting off of the ground. Then he sprinted towards me.

I turned around and yelled, "Grime! attack him with your claws and fangs!" My Poochyena nodded and dashed at the drunk, about to tear at his chest, but the man dodged. Then he fished around in his dirty pant pocket, procuring a pokeball.

"Heyo!" He yelled, releasing a Trubbish.

I paled. A battle? "Aack!" I whispered urgently to the Slowpoke in my arms. "We need your type advantage! Just use your Confusion against the Trubbish!"

Aack opened his eyes and glanced at the Trubbish. "I'll try to keep your other pokemon out of my view. Give me a slap and I'll get going."

I sighed, slapping Aack hard on the cheek. He moaned in pleasure for a few seconds before jumping out of my arms.

"Trainer, what was... no, I no need ask," Monotone said. He then turned to the Trubbish, and started using Peck. Grime was focusing on the drunk human, who still managed to dodge my Poochyena. That was indeed surprising.

It took only one Confusion from Aack to get the Trubbish to start attacking the road, after which a few Pecks from Monotone finished it off. Aack went back to 'sleep', and I picked him up.

The man fell to the ground, now covered in bloody wounds. "Grime! That's enough!" I shouted.

"But my lo-"

"NO! Who knows, he might have hemophilia or something and he could die and then we all go to jail and then-"

"Trainer."

"Sorry. Well, let's get going then." And we all went on our way back to the Dreamyard. Unova was full of some _really_ weird people.

* * *

I found the Dream-Giver standing under one of the purple lights, humming softly to herself. I walked closer after returning all of my pokemon. There wasn't anyone else in the area anymore.

"Hello, " I said.

The Dream-Giver looked at me. "You must the one who used to be a monster. Which pokemon species would you like?"

"I didn't want a pokemon from you, actually."

"Then why did you come?"

"You wanted me to."

The Dream-Giver smiled. "You came to see me!"

I nodded. "Well, yeah, I guess."

The Dream-Giver's eyes shimmered. "Y-you don't think I'm a freak?"

I shrugged. "You're a mystery, sure, but not a freak. Just different."

The Dream-Giver started sobbing and crying. I raised an eyebrow, and simply stood there awkwardly, unsure of whether or not I should've done something or not.

"Thanks, young boy. Thanks. Everyone thinks I'm a freak because of my curse, and you're the only one who actually thinks of me as a human!"

"Curse?"

The Dream-Giver covered her mouth, shock evident on her face.

I sat down on the grass, feeling tired again. Confusion really emptied my energy reserves.

"It's nothing. So are you challenging the gym tomorrow?"

I nodded.

The Dream-Giver clapped her hands together. "Then please come back here after your challenge! I will have something ready to thank you with!"

I shrugged. "Sure." To be honest, I kind of liked having someone think I was interesting.

"Well, I have to sleep, so I'll go back to the pokemon center," I said. The Dream-Giver nodded, and I walked away, contemplating what the Dream-Giver had said. I realized I was finding a lot of freaks. Grime was considered a freak, Aack was considered a freak, and now the Dream-Giver. And I was apparently a 'good' person. I always hated my own personality. Maybe I actually was nice?

I walked down the streets of Striaton City, thinking about freaks, when I saw the drunk man from before. He was on the ground, moaning in pain, with small pools of blood scattered around his body.

He was a freak. And I had judged him based on that. But he did attack me... well, he had just ran towards me. He did release a pokemon... well, that was most likely self defense. His fainted Trubbish was lying next to him.

I looked over at the guy's face. "Can you hear me?" I asked.

The man weakly nodded.

"Sorry about that. I want to help you now, though. Are you an official trainer?"

The man shook his head.

I sighed. Of course he wasn't. Trainers were kind of like an elite group. Even a badge-less trainer like me had a lot of rights a normal citizen anywhere wouldn't have. I took off my backpack and set down three cup noodles next to him. Then I left to go back to the pokemon center, feeling guilty for having judged the guy just because he was a drunkard. I didn't deserve the Dream-Giver's thanks. I would go tell her that tomorrow, after my gym challenge.

* * *

Chapter 16 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Ray catches a Noibat

.-.-.

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Howl, Odor Sleuth, Bite

Aack - Yawn, Tackle, Confusion, Water Gun


	17. The Striaton City Gym: Preliminaries

AN: Darkrai is a one-of-a-kind legendary. I know that's not exactly canon, but it's how it is in this story's world.

* * *

I finished up my breakfast and walked out of the pokemon center, rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, meaning I had little time to waste. After navigating the streets (and slipping once on a dew-saturated field, giving my body and clothes the coating of mud I seemed to get anywhere I went), I reached the Striaton City Gym. It was a large building, normally one of the best gourmet restaurants in the whole world.

I opened the doors, and was shocked to find it _full_. There were bodies crammed everywhere among the posh tables and seats in the large room. There were many screams and yelling. I shrugged and continued to walk in, pushing my way through the crowd to no where in particular.

"EVERYONE! LISTEN UP!" a voice yelled. I craned my neck to see what was happening. Although the crowd was largely made up of other 13 year olds, there just had to be the tallest kids all grouped together in front of me. I tried moving around, but this time, the people were holding their ground and not letting up.

"EVERYONE!" Another voice yelled, this time louder. Everyone instantly shut up (except for the tall people in front of me), and all eyes turned to what was apparently the three gym leaders standing atop the podium. I was surprised to see that their hair colors were blue, green, and red each; exactly like Arice, Kyra, and Tyson.

"We have 137 people signed up for today's challenge!" The red haired gym leader shouted. For some reason, the gym leaders weren't using microphones. "The rounds for the morning are the preliminaries! Only 32 people pass it!"

A lot of the challengers started grumbling about having to spend all day on the gym challenge. I wasn't about to complain, however. Getting to do battles all day would be great training. Plus, I was certain I was strong enough to defeat the gym leaders, so I had some confidence there.

"The first round in the preliminaries will cut down the contestants to 50; Each trainer will choose one pokemon to participate in a race! The slowest will disqualify their teams!" The red haired gym leader shouted, grinning.

More grumbles. I raised an eyebrow. It did make sense to not get into battles with so many trainers; however, I wasn't sure a race would be the best way to measure the trainers' strength. Another surprising fact was that the gym leaders must have different routines for everyone to be surprised by the race.

"It won't just be speed, however! Pokemon can attack each other on the race! Any fainted pokemon will be revived on the spot by a gym trainer, and they may continue after a five minute penalty!"

I thought there would be more complaints, but most challengers seemed to like the idea. I could tell luck would play a part in the race, which would obviously work against me.

"Follow me." The blue haired gym leader said, walking towards the exit. Although he hadn't yelled, everyone could hear him clearly. He seemed to be the most battle-hardened of the three gym leaders.

All the trainers followed the gym leader, who suddenly started sprinting when he was outside of the building.

"If you can't keep up, you don't deserve to even participate in the gym challenge," he said.

I easily kept up, staying at the head of the crowd. I noticed a few people walk away, their faces solemn. Well, at least this exercise would weed out he competition. I also noted the green and red haired gym leaders had stayed inside of the building.

Eventually, we reached the outskirts of the city, in a grassy field. After running for half an hour, most trainers were sweating like crazy, including me. I fell to the ground as the gym leader turned to face us. We all got a minute to catch our breath, after which the gym leader said, "I've counted 112 of you. You may all release one pokemon, and get them ready on the line. They'll have to reach the clearly marked ending straight north of this line, about two miles away." He pointed to a line made of tape on the ground

North of the line was a dense forest. No doubt there would be wild pokemon as well. I considered my options. Aack was obviously a bad choice, since he was a Slowpoke. 'Slow' was literally in his species name. Grime was a fast runner, but Monotone had the ability to float well above the trees. I decided to see what types of pokemon others were choosing. I noticed a lot of Patrats and Lillipups. The pokemon were already getting hostile.

Then Monotone was the obvious choice. Being able to avoid the conflicts by floating above the grounded pokemon would certainly save time. I released my Poipole, and gave him a run-down of what was happening.

"I see. I will avoid conflicts, save time," he said. I nodded, and smiled. "Good luck! We're all counting on you."

I watched him line up. I was surprised to see an adult challenger release a female Pyroar. It was entirely possible he had already gotten at least one regional recommendation. Then I noticed another adult. My eyes widened.

It was the drunk man.

I immediately walked away from where he was, hiding among a cluster of other challengers. He didn't notice me, and I believed it would be best to keep it that way. So he really was a trainer...

"All trainers, you will be staying here in this field," The gym leader said. "I see all of the pokemon are lined up. Anyone who breaks the rules will be immediately disqualified. I haven't ruled out anything I haven't said, so yes, teleportation is allowed. Now begin."

It was chaos. Only a few pokemon actually got going; most started attacking each other right off the bat. Luckily, Monotone was able to quickly fly up above the trees and get started. However, just as he was about to leave my field of view, a plume of lava struck him from below, dropping his body into the trees beneath.

I let out a squeal of dismay, and I noticed the adult who had owned the Pyroar was smirking. I narrowed my eyes. Nonetheless, a good amount of pokemon had fainted right on the starting line, so at least I wasn't dead last or anything.

After five minutes, the fainted pokemon woke up. A few of them were attacking and fainted again, but most were able to go into the forests.

After twenty-ish minutes, there were no pokemon left in sight.

"Well, everyone, follow me again. I'll lead you to the finish line. We already have a few pokemon there," The blue haired gym leader said.

I followed the gym leader, who was again sprinting, in a curve to get to the finish line. We probably had to run three miles that time, and I honestly felt like quitting a few times. Some people around me did so, after which the gym leader said they were disqualified, no matter what their pokemon had achieved in the race.

I made it to end near the end of the crowd, and I noticed that there were a couple dozen pokemon there. There weren't any Poipoles, however.

I waited patiently under the blazing sun, watching as the pokemon count reached 45. By then, I had decided we had probably lost. I was about to go complain to the gym leader about the crappy system when I saw my Poipole floating above the trees, coming in at 46th. I cheered and ran towards him, but then I realized there was something... different about the Poipole.

"That's mine, kid," A girl my age said, snarling.

"But that's a Poipole..." I said, confused.

The girl returned 'her' Poipole. It actually went inside a Beast Ball of hers. "You aren't a Shifter, so there's no way you would have a Poipole."

I frowned. "I was given the Poipole by a bunch of aliens. I'm not a... what was it? Shifter?"

"Heh! Which idiots would _give_ you a Poipole! The aliens on the Ultra Planet work hard to make sure no Poipoles or Naganadels live on this planet. I actually stole my Poipole right under their noses!"

I shrugged. I knew it wasn't my Poipole, so there wasn't any point talking to the salty girl. I walked away, and she just glared at me.

A few minutes later, the blue haired gym leader cleared his throat, then said, "50 pokemon have crossed the finish line. The challenge will continue at noon in the gym. For those of you who don't have your pokemon, the gym trainers should be rounding them up as I speak. Stay here until you get your pokemon, then you leave." After saying that, the gym leader walked back to Striaton City. I noticed the drunk guy and the Pyroar adult had both qualified; the drunk guy had used an Archen.

I plopped myself down on the ground and looked at the other failures. They were all 13 year olds, like me, and some were even crying. I didn't care that much. I would just have to move onto the second gym leader in Nacrene City. After fetching Ray, I could just come back anyways and easily complete the gym. Of course, I would miss out on the perks of having a gym badge, like bigger pokemon center rooms, more pokemon center features, discounts at pokemarts, and more respect, to name a few. That thought just ruined my mood.

I noticed a fainted Poipole being carried in an adult's hands. I ran to him. "He's yours? He actually fainted in this large ditch or something and it was really hard to get him out. Considering that, you get to pass."

I thanked the gym trainer and returned Monotone, grinning. Then I frowned. I turned back to the gym trainer. "Why didn't you revive him?" I asked.

The gym trainer smiled apologetically. "I ran out of revives. There were much more battles than we had thought."

I shrugged and walked back to Striaton City. Was I technically the 51st place? That didn't make any sense.

* * *

Ray entered Diglett's Tunnel at the crack of dawn. At midnight, he had ran away from the resort to Heahea City, after which he went south to Diglett's Tunnel. Although the servants and endless money was enticing, Ray was concerned for his friend. He knew his friend was concerned about him, as well. Ray saw a wild Diglett, and noted its speed. Definitely above his level. Sighing, Ray went back to Heahea City, deciding to just go into the pokemon center, even though that would probably be the first place his servants would check when looking for him.

Heahea City was a port city in Akala, an island in Alola. It had a variety of amenities and festivities, making it a lively place, even in the early morning.

Ray entered the pokemon center and booked a room with the nurse. Then he went to his room, and closed the door behind him, sighing in relief.

But he wasn't alone.

"Ray, It baffles me that you would decide to run away," one of his servants said. They were both sitting atop his bed, clad in shiny black clothes as usual.

Ray hung his head in shame. "I guess I am stupid. Getting caught so easily..."

One of the servants released an Alakazam, and said, "we will now report this to Ratem. Let's see what he decides to do with you."

* * *

"I see," The green haired gym leader, Cilan, said. I was inside the gym, talking to the three gym leaders about my situation.

"This completely messes up our plan," Cress, the blue haired gym leader, said. He was frowning deeply, which put me on edge.

"Yes, Cress, but we can just change it. There's one trainer who already completed the Kalos region. We can let him skip the next round. He's already proved his worth."

Chilli, the red haired gym leader, nodded. "Yes, that's fine. It's decided then. Kid, you're still in the challenge. For your troubles, how about some tea? It's on us!"

My mouth watered. Normally, I thought coffee was superior to tea in every way. However, the tea made by the Striaton City gym leaders was considered the best tea in the world. It was also the most expensive beverage in the world, costing what a doctor made in a month for just one cup. People who could drink a cup even considered it the best moments of their life "Y-y-yes please!" I stuttered. "B-but why do I deserve it?"

Chili laughed. "Because you were inconvenienced by Cress's stupid preliminary idea. C'mon, it's alright!"

I nodded, not wanting to protest anymore. I watched as the three gym leaders went through a door at the back of the dining room, and I took a seat at one of the posh tables. I got drool over the white, pristine table cloth, and quickly ran over to a different table. That was gross.

Just five minutes later, the three trainers arrived at my table with a steaming cup of tea. The cup was made of white porcelain.

"While we wait for it to cool down, let's talk!" Chili shouted, even though I was sitting half a meter away from him.

I shrugged, a little nervous about talking to gym leaders. I didn't feel like I deserved that right.

"So where are you from!" Chili shouted. Cilan glanced at him meaningfully, and Chili smiled. "Never mind that! What's your favorite pokemon!"

I shrugged. "Darkrai, I guess. Uh, what about you?" I tried smiling but it just came out as a grimace.

"Simisear! I have one! Of course, I don't use it for gym battles, but yeah!" Chili shouted enthusiastically. "I also like pie!"

I raised an eyebrow. I blew on the tea and took a sip, and my head burst with flavor and smooth texture, the herbal bites joining perfectly with the liquidy rush and the perfectly added sugar. I found myself smacking my lips loudly, after which I stopped and blushed furiously. "Sorry..."

Cress shook his head. "Don't worry kid, the prime minister of Unova, Iris, fell unconscious from one sip. Some people actually thought we had poisoned her."

I laughed, then realized that was improper and covered my mouth. Honestly, being with rich people was weird.

I finished the tea with delight, and got up. I bowed, and said, "thanks for the tea, eh... gentlemen. I'll take my leave."

I was about to walk away when Cilan said, "good luck, young trainer." I smiled, happy I had actually made a good relation with people for once, and walked out of the restaurant.

* * *

Chapter 17 MC/age/pokemon changes: NONE

.-.-.

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Howl, Odor Sleuth, Bite

Aack - Yawn, Tackle, Confusion, Water Gun


	18. The Striaton City Gym: Round 2 Madness

AN: I've recently started a new Naruto fanfic called Dark Science. Although that has been getting much more attention, I still intend to finish this story, as it is based on an idea that's been roaming around in my head for a long time. Silver Fang is very close to my heart.

* * *

Until noon, I had challenged and defeated a few trainers in Striaton City to get some cash, a small portion of which I used to eat lunch at a trainer restaurant. Trainer restaurants allowed people to bring pokemon with them, which normal restaurants didn't allow (since pokemon were pretty destructive).

When it was about to become noon, I rushed to the gym, and slammed open the doors as I reached a few minutes late. I walked in, trying my best to ignore the many stares coming from a lot of the remaining challengers.

"Well, that makes 50," Cress said, a bored expression on his face. He was standing with the other two gym leaders atop the podium across the room. "Now listen up everyone! The first place trainer of the preliminaries gets to skip this round, leaving us with 50 people. You will all pair up in the next five minutes. Your pairs will then be assigned a gym trainer or gym leader, who will guide to a location to do battle. 13 pairs will have to wait for the first 12 pairs to finish up before starting their matches."

I hung my head, remembering the times we had to pair up in school. I couldn't have Ray with me in every class, so in the ones where I was alone, I had to make do with the leftover kids; usually the ones who didn't do any work and stared at other kids creepily with bulging eyes.

I looked up to see nearly everyone trying to pair up with me. There was a lot of shoving to get near my position near the front door. A mid-teen boy ran up to me out of the crowd and put on a baby-doll face. "Please me my partner?"

I raised an eyebrow, thinking for a second that I might've been popular. That thought vanished easily. Instead, I realized that since I got in by luck, and I came late, I was probably going to be considered a noob.

As a few more prospects came near, I said, "I'll be with you." I was pointing to the girl with the Poipole, who was standing alone in the corner, glaring at the crowd around me.

The girl suddenly blushed, and everyone around me started complaining. I shrugged, running to the girl. She didn't say anything, and just continued to glare at me.

"Eh sorry that just popped out of my mouth... but sure can we fight?" I said.

The girl cracked her knuckles. "I'm okay with wiping your sorry butt across the battlefield!" Despite her harsh tone, her voice was soft and lilting.

"One minute left! If you don't have a partner at the end of the minute then you're immediately disqualified!" Chili yelled. Several people paled and started running around frantically.

Unfortunately, everyone was paired up in time. I was hoping one of the gym leaders would watch my match, since I _had_ been a special guest of theirs, or something like that. Instead, we were assigned a gym trainer; an uptight waiter who held his pokeballs atop a circular platter. And we were in the second half of battles, so we would have to wait another two hours before getting to do our match.

"Young children, sit down on a table and don't get up. The only exception is for the restroom," The waiter said, his head tilted upwards in an indifferent manner. "I will be in the kitchen. If you need me... too bad."

We watched as he left for the kitchen, and I took a seat at a table and looked at the girl. She grumbled, then took a seat oat the same table, opposite of me. The table was circular and had a white tablecloth atop it, along with neatly arranged glasses, forks, knives, and a few condiments.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Screw you," the girl said, pulling out a phone. She started furiously swiping on the screen after a few minutes. Probably a game.

I kicked back my legs and relaxed in the comfortable seat, but I was still pretty bored. Why couldn't we train? I decided to just bend the rules a little. I threw all three of my pokeballs.

"Everyone, I have to sit here for the next two hours. You guys have to stick together, go out, and train or something. Come back in around one and a half hours," I said.

My pokemon looked at me with confused expressions. At least, Grime and Monotone did. Aack was pretending to sleep. I sighed, remembering his crippling mental condition, and said, "Monotone and Grime, you two go. Aack can train with me in my seat."

My first two pokemon nodded and bounded off as I lifted my Slowpoke onto the table. I was wondering if I had made the right decision.

"Honestly, a Slowpoke? A _Slowpoke_? Which idiot would train that?"

"Hey loser, go screw yourself," Aack said.

My eyes widened and I looked at the girl to see her reaction. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have a pokemon translator.

"God, it's noisy as well," she complained. "Just return the fatty."

I reddened. "Hey, wanna do a battle while sitting on these seats! One on one, my Slowpoke versus a dumb pokemon of yours!"

The girl hesitated, but only for a split-second. After that, she smiled. "Why not?" She released a Blitzle.

"That's a type advantage! I can't believe you have to rely on that to win!" I said, crossing my arms.

"I really have to do this?" Aack said, turning to me.

"I will win! I will win!" The Blitzle said in a high pitched voice, prancing around. The electric horse pokemon had an intense voice crack.

"Hey pony, go screw yourself," Aack said with a bored voice.

The Blitzle stopped prancing and turned to look at Aack. "Hey Slowpoke, I could destroy you in a race if I wanted! I'm so fast, even a Tornadus would have to applaud me!"

I decided to add more conflict between them to encourage Aack to want to battle. "Hey Blitzle, how come your trainer chose her Poipole for the gym race and not you?"

The girl blushed. "You have a pokemon translator!"

I nodded, smirking. "Yeah, of course. Any trainer worth their salt has one. I'm surprised you don't."

The girl got up from her seat, fury evident in her eyes - but just then, the waiter came out of the kitchen. "Hey girl! Sit down!" he yelled, running to our table.

The girl sat down. I smugly watched as he lectured her on listening to gym workers and to not always be a rebel. The girl was glaring at me the whole time, but that just made the experience even better.

Eventually, the waiter walked away, cursing under his breath. Once he was back in the kitchen, I looked at the Blitzle. "My question still stands."

"What race?" The Blitzle asked, titling its head.

The girl huffed, and returned her pokemon. "I'll call off the battle."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

The girl crossed her arms. "Because."

I sighed and rested my head on the table. For the next few hours.

* * *

It was finally time to battle the girl. We were in a large clearing in a forest, and the waiter/gym trainer/referee/nuisance was standing off to the side. The girl and I each had a Beast Ball at hand.

"Begin!" The referee said, clapping his hands for impact. He then went on a phone call.

I released my Poipole at the same time as my opponent. It was a showdown of who had a better Poipole.

"Monotone! Move #2 spamming!" I commanded. Move #2 was Growl.

The girl didn't give any commands, and instead just grinned. I raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. As Monotone started using Growl, the battle was already turning in my favor. It was possible her Poipole only used special moves, but she wasn't gaining any advantage from not doing anything.

As this happened, the waiter put his phone back in his pocket and pointed his gun at the girl. "You are a shifter, young lady. I'm afraid you will come with me," he said.

The girl looked at him and paled. Then she looked at me. "Let's defeat him together!"

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't want to get myself in any trouble; after all, the waiter didn't seem to be interested in kidnapping me. However, I knew that if I wanted friends, I would have to be nice.

So, going against my nature, I released my two other pokemon, and said, "Avoid the gun, and bring down the waiter! Rip him to shreds! MURDER! HA HA!" I yelled, starting off uncertain but going crazy at the end. I guess some of anger at the waiter had seeped in.

The girl had four pokemon of her own released and in front of her. The waiter balked, and pointed his gun at Grime; however, Grime had leaped already and bit the gun, splicing it in two.

Then a bright white light suddenly appeared from the area, and the other pokemon backed off, not sure what was happening. A few seconds later, a Mightyena and several bleeding hunks of flesh were found where the light had been.

I nodded. "Well, that meets the randomness quota for the day."

* * *

Sorry the chapter is shorter than usual, the next one will be larger than usual in order to make up for it.

* * *

Chapter 18 MC/age/pokemon changes:

Grime evolves in a Mightyena.

.-.-.

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Snarl, Odor Sleuth, Bite

Aack - Yawn, Tackle, Confusion, Water Gun


End file.
